How to Save the World in Your Spare Time

Both nature and nurture must have inspired Elizabeth May in her book How to Save the World in Your Spare Time (Key Porter). May is the executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada; she is also the daughter of Stephanie Middleton May, an activist with the Committee for Sane Nuclear Policy, which was instrumental in closing down eight major nuclear testing sites in the 1950s. The book offers succinct advice on questions that arise in new grassroots advocacy groups: Should we organize and lobby with letters or email? Should we get a lawyer? What are our rights? How do we get media people to care? It’s also a great refresher for long-time organizers, reminding the reader to ponder, before embarking on a campaign, whether she is willing to undergo hunger strikes and civil disobedience, be arrested, and/or remortgage her home for a full-page ad in the Globe and Mail. How to Save the World is a well-written, easy-to-follow “how-to” for any group or individual looking to change the world on any scale. Here’s hoping it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.