January Book Review: Who Cares Wins by Lily Cole

Who Cares Wins by Lily Cole

Who Cares Wins is a great introduction for anyone who has been thinking about the climate crisis, fast fashion, extinction, plastic or has simply watched an Attenborough documentary recently and thought, I need to know more about this. The book explores all of the big issues from consumerism, to ‘the system’ and everything in between. As someone who researches sustainability (particularly from the consumerism/ market perspective), many of the ideas introduced in part one of the book were already familiar to me, although Cole does well at delving deeply into these subjects and provides snippets of discussion with some of the many entrepreneurs, pioneers and thought leaders in the field. 

For me parts three and four of the book were most interesting. Here she discusses the politics of sustainability and the systems in place that facilitate the very opposite of sustainability. Do we need to change the system to realise sustainability? She goes on to explore the framing of environmentalism and if we opened our minds to the possibility that being considerate and protective of the environment could actually offer better opportunities than what we currently have. This is an important point, as Cole highlights, to date the environmental debate has adopted a negative, pessimistic personality, however as any great salesperson will tell you, you need a good story to sell. Now that climate, extinction, ocean plastic, drought, forest fires and melting ice caps is constantly in public consciousness, how about we sell what is good about the changes needed to save our home (Earth)? 

One of the most compelling theories in the book for me, was about the role of work and the need to work more to afford more things and to live an ‘affluent’ lifestyle. Why do we work so much? Do we need to? These questions may seem absurd. For many, many people the choice to work is not an option. However, for many other people, the need to work as many hours as they do, is done so to earn more money, not because they don’t have enough, but because they want more. And the biggest irony of them all, is that wealthier individuals are more often than not better educated and have a higher awareness of climate and sustainability, and yet they have the highest carbon footprint. Wealth breeds affluence and the ability to afford more ‘luxury’ and unsustainable things, hobbies and lifestyles. Despite knowing better, rich people do more harm than those with less money. 

And the trouble with all of this is, as Cole details in her book, the poor are already experiencing the consequences of some of humanity living beyond the Earth’s means. For me this is where the insatiable need for economic growth needs to be reevaluated and alongside this, measure the growth of the natural environment and the growth of human well-being. It is difficult to reset our thinking when we are fully embedded in the system and at the moment it seems totally unimaginable. However, one of the most eloquently made points in the book says that one hundred years ago when women didn’t have the vote in the US, doing so seemed totally unimaginable then. The possibility of the unimaginable isn’t always unattainable.

Therein lies the optimism of the book. The book is a heavy read, certainly not one that you can ‘escape’ in. However, the climate crisis is not a light topic, nor or the individual and systemic changes needed to tackle it. For that reason I implore anyone with an interest in these topics to pick up a book like Cole’s and read it with an open mind, keep reading and talk about it with your nearest and dearest. 

Readers on Good Reads rated this book 4.21/5

My review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

Have you read Who Cares Wins? I’d love to know what you think, please let me know👇