The environmental movement has endured a reputation for negativity since its inception. To simply acknowledge the science behind environmentalism is to embrace this negativity – most of the things that so-called developed human society does are bad for ourselves and the earth. Those working toward ecological sustainability often fall prey to discouragement, frustration, rage, or paralysis. Environmentalism may be due for a change of attitude.

Following their successful collaboration, From Naked Ape to Superspecies, David Suzuki and writer Holly Dressel try to coax the environmental movement away from its deep-seated pessimism in Good News for a Change. The book is classic Suzuki, showcasing his ability to make complex material accessible. Issues like genetic engineering and climate change are, as always, powerfully rendered by the ease with which Suzuki crosses academic disciplines with his ecological holism. Yet Good News, while retracing some familiar territory, strives to push this material a step further.

Suzuki and Dressel use Kerala, India, as an example of a region that has refused to sacrifice long-term benefits, both environmental and social, for immediate economic gain. With an average yearly income of just $300 (U.S.), the people of Kerala boast a low fertility rate, 90% literacy, affordable health care, and subsidized food for the poor, all thanks to a strong sense of community and regional values. While this is just one of the many cases that fill Good News, Kerala embodies the crux of the work’s argument: locally based, consensus-seeking, and unabashedly idealistic individuals and communities across the planet are already realizing the goal of sustainability. Suzuki and Dressel even include an extensive contact list of the organizations they profile.

Just as the environmental movement has bravely revealed what is wrong – and Suzuki and Dressel do not hesitate to reiterate criticism of the green revolution, the industrial revolution, capitalism, and neo-liberalism – Good News shows that some people have started to get some things right.