It begins! Thank goodness I have 6-month borrowing privileges..

I’m definitely not the only engaged scholar out there, but there aren’t many researchers who are also members of the communities they are studying. I think about my community organizing as research: which tactics work, and which don’t?

Why are certain things the way they are? Did they always use to be like this?

Where do systems of power lie? How can we elevate marginalized voices?

How did our society come to be based on fossil fuels?

Why haven’t we moved forward to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar?

Organizing is effective when we do our research. Social change can definitely be unpredictable, but we can also certainly learn much from past movements, and their failures and successes.

This week, I am working on my literature review. I don’t know if I can ever finish learning about social movements, climate science, or renewable energy politics – but my goal is to compile my own mini encyclopedia of any nuggets of wisdom I may encounter reading about these topics. As I sit at the gigantic 16-person table in our office, I look out at the stacks of books and newspaper articles in front of me, and it feels daunting. In the same way, climate change as a social problem feels daunting to activists: where do we even begin?

Distilling information is a useful skill, regardless of the context.

These are the questions I have been asking myself, (inspired by this great handout from the University of Toronto):

• What is, in one sentence, my goal? What do I seek to learn?
• What questions would I need to ask in order to learn that information?
• What is/are the problem(s) involving my social issue? Who are the different actors/stakeholders in relation to it/them?
• Where do people agree or disagree with what actions that should be taken moving forward? How could I examine these ‘controversies’ in modes of thought?
• What examples could I look at that would help me better understand the issue I’m examining?

A good literature review is narrow enough that it is manageable, but broad enough that it may be considered comprehensive. Needless to say, the balance is tough to strike. The best literature reviews, I am told, are written with consideration and purpose of your broader research goal, rather than being a descriptive list of written summaries.

This is my first “real-deal” literature review – here we go!