Anthea Lawson, author of How Not to Save the World: Doing Good Without Annoying Everyone, will be in conversation with poet Rae Howells.

Do you want to change the world but wonder if there’s any point trying?

Are you unsure what you can offer, or don’t feel that you fit the activist mould?

Do you think activists can be self-righteous, even oblivious to the very people they’re trying to help?

The Environment Centre has got together with Waterstones to organise a conversation with Anthea Lawson. Local poet Rae Howells will be finding out why and how Anthea wrote this groundbreaking book.

How Not To Save the World is a book about doing good, for anyone who has looked at politics or public discourse and thought, ‘we need better than this.’ The fervour that drives us to change the world can create blind spots, where we don’t see our own behaviour, or disregard it because the cause is urgent.

Realistic, candid and hopeful, How Not To Save the World is a sympathetic exploration of alternatives to righteousness, purity traps and other unhelpful habits. It shows that there are ways to work together for what matters, without alienating the people we need to convince.

'A wise, rich and crucial book, which is helping me to do better, and will help many others.' —George Monbiot

'To change the world you don’t need to be a hero, or perfectly green, or meet any other purity tests. The first step is just to start talking to those around you... The stories in this book show how we can build bridges in order to work together for the world that we want.' —Brian Eno

Description supplied by the event organiser.