All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis

Competition long has been the default within American society when it comes to solving problems or confronting injustice. It’s so ingrained that it often affects even our relationship to nature and what it has to offer. Giving up this sense of competition is vital to making progress in ourselves, our communities, our society, and in nature. All We Can Save gives multiple examples of the ways in which collaborating instead of competing allows us to progress toward a better future.

Competition for resources among humans is a persistent problem and has been for thousands of years. Today, though, this should not be an issue. There is enough for everyone, and yet a small percentage of people receive most of the resources that the planet has to offer while a larger percentage is left wanting. Naomi Klein quotes Greta Thunberg on this problem: “[W]e need a whole new way of thinking…we must stop competing with each other. We need to start cooperating and sharing the remaining resources of this planet in a fair way” (48). Cooperating and collaborating will bring about a much greater chance of survival overall than competition. Christine E. Nieves Rodriguez’s essay provides an example of a successful collaborative community experience after a hurricane in Puerto Rico.