‘With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.’ In ‘Despite It All’, Pearce offers us a more hopeful narrative to counter the daily deluge of climate crisis stories from around the world. Pollution of our seas, pollution of our atmosphere, extreme weather, droughts, biodiversity in crisis- it is all too easy to slip into a passive acceptance of the conditions of our world in 2026 and imagine that this is the only future. As Pearce acknowledges, ‘It is easy to be defeatist about the fate of the planet.’
Pearce is at pains not to underestimate the climate trajectory that we are on, but reminds us that stories which uplift with hope resonate more than stories that are filled only with darkness. In the midst of winter, we look for the light of nature. ‘Nothing in this book is an argument for complacency. My purpose is to shine a light on solutions and offer hope in dark times’
He focuses on 7 key areas as his takeaways- the power of nature to find a way; the importance of Indigenous wisdom and knowledge in a modern world; the benefits of technology; community driven projects and land ownership rather than private enterprise; eco-restoration solutions; the end of materialism; and that the population of the world will not rise for ever.
Wildlife means wildlife
‘Despite It All’ begins by focusing on the loss and threats facing nature and highlights that the human idea of ‘wildlife’ often has a visual of pristine environments, rather than dark forests or disused military junkyards, where species often thrive.
‘The scale of humanity’s impact on the natural world is staggering.’
Pearce makes the argument that we tend to believe what we repeatedly hear and if we hear negative story after negative story on biodiversity loss, then we stop looking for the ‘green shoot’ stories. ‘Why don’t we hear more about these amazing cases of nature fighting back and creating the new wild? It is on this argument that this book rests- that although global awareness and public information of the climate crisis is perhaps the highest it has ever been, that positive news stories about eco-regeneration often don’t make the headline news.
The role of technology
Pearce fully unpicks the thorny issue of the role of technology in playing a positive part in offering solutions to some of the climate issues. He bluntly addresses the dangers of viewing technology as some sort of geoengineering ‘silver bullet’, which would only allow for fossil fuel companies to continue with their focus on profits at any cost. He warns about ‘…the potential for obfuscation by corporate players anxious to preserve their profits is immense. For them, every day of delay is a victory.’ He instead makes the point that the technology to make renewables a reality has moved us far aware from continued reliance on dangerous fossil fuels and uses examples of off-shore windfarms, and the rise of solar technology as clear areas of technology being our friend.
We are far more cooperative than we often imagine.
‘Despite It All’ is deliberately a short book. The answers to how we can solve and mitigate the worst of the climate crisis are well known. The ‘technology’ to solve this global crisis is there, the support for climate action from the world’s citizens is there, the need for a change is there- the last domino to push over is political will. In reality, with global political cooperation to push back against the chokehold of the fossil fuel companies, this really would be the last obstacle to overcome.
Of course, all this rhetoric could pale into comparison tomorrow, when the floods come, when the crops fail, when more species become extinct, or when drought tightens its grip. But the climate progress we have made over the past 30 years needs to be emphasised and celebrated. Pearce concludes, ‘The worst could still happen, but it doesn’t have to…I have faith in humanity’s ingenuity and collective will.’ He reminds us that throughout history we have faced seemingly insurmountable mountains before, but that we have always been brave enough to take that first step.
‘But many things that appear unstoppable can be halted and reversed, if we have the will to try.’
‘Despite It All’ reminds us that we have the agency to bring a new world into being. Giving up when we hear the worst of the climate news from around the world and falling victim to a ‘doomist’ narrative, forgets the lessons to us from nature- that spring always follows winter and that the light always returns to the world.
“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way.
On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
–Arundhati Roy
Climate Thoughts with Brian 