Building a Green Movement and Changing the World
Sharon J. Smith
Ten Speed Press, 2011, 224 pp. $14.99
The location of the publisher should provide a little clue regarding the bias of this book. The forward for the book was written by a woman named Butterfly, who spent two years living in a tree she wanted to save. However, if you have some tree-saving, granola-minded students in your world, this book will help you appreciate their passion and better understand their worldview. This book makes no defense for the ideology it assumes, contains zero biblical perspective, no come-to-Jesus stories or even any argument for the responsibility Christ-followers have to care for His creation. Instead, this book is simply a manual for adolescents who want to become Green-Activists. The chapters help the reader develop skills and a plan to deal with media, politics, fundraising and plans for protesting. It is rich with Web-based support groups, resources and vignettes of student testimonials about their activist experiences. I felt a bit as if I was reading a confiscated copy of an activist group’s secret plans! Although there are some concepts in the book that are easily applicable to the Christian life (“Stand up for what you believe” and “Get your hands dirty”), this book needs the careful guidance of a godly mentor in the life of an adolescent who reads it.
