Twenty Steps Toward a Climate of Justice

This book provides a multilayered approach--twenty steps--on how we might move toward a social climate of justice. Posts written for the Climate of Justice Project exemplify how the steps direct us toward meaningful engagement with our social, political, and environmental challenges. The 116 posts were written as responses to conflicts, ideas, and conversations between 2020 and 2024. Many of the posts are instances of dialogue with over 60 authors who have contributed to public discourse, such as Richard Powers, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, and Robin Wall Kimmerer. Some posts are more philosophical than others, and some more humorous, such as the imaginary interview with Amy Coney Barrett. The first step Focus the Mind on a Climate of Justice lays out the basic premise of the book, with eight posts including Who will Protect us? and A Framework for our Thinking. The second step Take Care of Civic Spaces defines the civic as the space where we can reconcile social differences and repair social damages. Step three addresses a common barrier to a climate of justice: authoritarian zealots, with four posts including A Message to Christian Nationalism. The seventeen other steps, from Abolish White Supremacy to Care for Civilians include posts that respond to such events as Black Lives Matter, the coronavirus, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and October 7. While the events keep changing, taking the steps that will move us toward a climate of justice have become even more relevant.