The Joyful Environmentalist

Buy Now

The Guardian
Waterstones
Amazon

This is a second edition of ‘The Joyful Environmentalist’ that is more substantial than the first (the publishers called it ‘fatter.’) Most sections of the book are the same as they didn’t need updating. Replanting the Caledonian Forest in Scotland, for example, with ‘Trees for Life’ will always be a joyful contribution to nature regardless of our government’s policies.

There is an explanation of digital decluttering and how us deleting old emails impacts climate change, a new section or protecting our city trees from insurance companies and local councils, an examination of how, as environmentalists we can make use of the law, a bit on heat-pumps and even a little rant from me questioning why pre-schoolers are taught palaeontology rather than zoo-ology.

So if you enjoyed the first edition you may like to get hold of this one as well and just be reminded of everything that we can do all over again. And if you didn’t read the first edition - go straight for this one. A very good gift for anyone who cares about nature & our planet and needs cheering up.

Winner of the best overall sustainability book for 2022

Celebrity Reviews

“There is much to read that discourages both individual and collective action to live with love for each other, the world and ourselves. Much that ever so cleverly separates us and undermines our self-worth as citizens together with the power to change. Isabel encourages both individual and collective action with her honest, humorous account of all the choices we each can make right now today to change the world by changing ourselves.She gave my spirit a lift and my feet somewhere to stand.”

— Sir Mark Rylance

“Isabel Losada writes wittily, engagingly and compassionately about the ways in which we can help the planet. For those increasing numbers of us suffering from eco-anxiety here, at last, is a friend to guide us through the maze of conflicting advice, steer us round the pitfalls and gently support our stumbling steps. Her own stories of frustration and confusion, meltdowns and bafflement, will chime with anyone who has ever tried to do their bit for conservation in a world that seems determined to thwart them at every turn. Told with humour and candour, The Joyful Environmentalist is a manifesto of brilliant advice offered with humility and good grace – it is a practical guide to empower us all.”

— Isabella Tree, Author of ‘Wilding’

“Perhaps the most important message any environmentalist can give at the moment is that green options are neither just a last desperate hope for saving the planet, nor misery maximisers that will make life less worth living. They are ways of affirming that worthwhileness and enhancing it. This book, practical and realistic as well as visionary, will keep that positive message before the reader’s eyes. Joy is after all one of the best motivations we can have for change.”

— Dr Rowan Williams

Reader Reviews

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ LOVED IT!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 November 2020

Verified Purchase

I've just finished the book and LOVED it. It made me cry at the end though I'll not share why - it's good to read it for yourself but it hit one of my life truths. I love the way it's written, and the joyful nature of experimenting with life. That's what I've been doing and encouraging others to do for so long, to play with ideas, to try it out. You can't fail if you're just having a play with an idea, experimenting with a concept and trialling it. So many of us live in fear of getting it wrong. What if there was no wrong. I so love the book because it's light and non preachy and thought provoking. 8 years ago going vegan I realised if I rammed it down ppl's throats that would have turned me right off (if I was stood in the other shoe so to speak). And so I made nice vegan food to share and people love it. And recipes (though as I've got busier in my clinic work those have both slowed down). Anyway just to say a HUGE thank you to Isabel for putting all of that onto paper... happy to say we do so much of it - and a teeny addition to the clothes chapter - I buy evening stuff if I've the odd black tie do from eBay and have found some great monsoon/coast things there - at a fraction of the cost - both to myself and to the environment. A joyful, wonderful read. Everyone should have a copy.

N. DARBY

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This book has opened my eyes

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 July 2020

Verified Purchase

Full disclosure, I not only work for the "evil global corporations" that are usually the easy/lazy targets of environmental journalism, I have also been on the receiving end of the directionless and futile "protests" that became so fashionable (and funded in large part by the tax dollars I generate). And I fly a lot with work. And I wasn't that bothered where my clothes come from, who supplies my energy, what happens to my recycling and certainly not what birds do in winter. And - I imagine - if you root around in my kitchen cupboards, you'll find some plastic straws. Such is the polarisation of the environmental debate, I guess no one will read beyond that opening statement, many thinking "that's just normal" and the rest condemning me as a planet-burning devil. However, this book is not about judgement, it's about inspiration to care a little and do a little, written in a lovely, warm, gentle style. I found myself smiling at the organic food debate, realising that buying "stuff" brings me more anxiety than happiness, amazed that small lifestyle changes bring such fundamental benefits to many unseen people and clapping at the alternatives to high street banking. The key message is that small changes have big impact at scale (turns out that I don't have to walk to work wearing old sack cloth) and I have since bought several more copies to distribute to my planet-burning devil friends. This morning, I plan to walk to the garden centre and buy a winter berry bush for my guest birds - which will bring me joy - and tell my bank where they can stick it (that's two small actions for the day).

Emily Lucienne Riley

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I feel optimistic and determined

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 September 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a very clever book. Little by little with easy steps and easy concepts - Losada is actually introducing us to a complete life transformation. I love the way she encourages us to explore our own experience of nature by exploring her own (I was worse than Losada on recognition of trees and knowledge about them). The chapter in which she speaks about the power of darkness and what we have lost by losing the intimacy of talking to each other in the dark moved me to tears. Like Losada I found my bank was incongruent with my values so I have now changed to an ethical bank and now question the supply chains not only of the clothes I buy but of everything I buy. I had never really considered my power as a consumer before and instead had just become depressed about my seeming inability to make a difference. I love the idea of using joy as a guide to which actions I take. I find the idea of being ‘a little bit activist’ manageable and not overwhelming. The wilding movement I knew nothing about but I now take an active interest in. Put simply I felt depressed and disempowered and exhausted as an environmentalist - and now I don’t. I feel determined and - with joy as my guide - I even feel hopeful. I’m am now a joyful environmentalist. Join me.

M O'Beirne

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A book that is as joyful as its title suggests

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 May 2021

Verified Purchase

It is difficult not to feel anxious about the state of the environment, to be overwhelmed by a fear that we have no control over what is happening to our planet. But this lovely book offers us hope. It takes us by the hand and talks with us, one to one, about practical steps that we can manage in our everyday lives – steps that really will make a difference. It is a book created from a place not of judgement or doomsaying, but of enthusiasm and, as the title suggests, joy. I have bookmarked page after page and will be using it as a guide. I would encourage you to do the same.

Tinawrites

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Important manageable steps for the overwhelmed wannabe more conscious human

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 December 2020

Verified Purchase

Accessible, practical and written with her trademark humour, this book will give you hope and the realisation that some simple changes can make a difference, both to the planet and your own wellbeing. I was also impressed that most of the suggestions end up saving you money. I had an assumption that this sort of book would be for the worried well, not those with more than one eye on the purse strings. Buy one for yourself, and one for a friend you suspect secretly wants to do more to support the planet but is too overwhelmed to do the research. Which they don't have to, because Isabel has done it for them.