How does the author structure the book, This Changes Everything?

This Changes Everything is separated into three main parts. Part One: Bad Timing describes the fundamentals of the debate between climate change activists and deniers who believe either that climate change is not taking place at all or if it is, it is a cyclic, natural occurrence and is not due to human activity. Author Naomi Klein begins with her account of attending the Heartlands Institute Conference which is a gathering of right-wing think tank opinion makers who are climate change deniers. She provides their arguments which are driven largely by ideology and their belief that capitalism is the only economic model that can be successful and that market fundamentalism will solve all problems.

Part Two: Magical Thinking goes into great detail about the damage that the fossil-fuel industry has done to Planet Earth and its atmosphere. Klein includes the dire warning of climate scientists, 97% of whom state that climate change is occurring and that humans have a role in the crisis. The ways that ideology can be overcome to allow a new economy to emerge are explored. An exhaustive review of possible solutions is explored which includes actually dimming down the sun. Klein stresses that billionaire entrepreneurs are not the answer. The solutions have to be bottom-up and grassroots driven.

In Part Three: Starting Anyway discusses encouraging foundations and universities to divest of any funds invested in the fossil-fuel industry and to reinvest them in renewable solutions. Lawsuits filed by Indigenous people are having success in the judicial system in protecting the lands that they have ownership in based on treaties signed long before. Money to fund research for renewable solutions should come from the fossil-fuel industry which has contributed the majority of the accumulated greenhouse gases. While ideology deflated the activism that began in the 60s and 70s, recently a new movement has emerged led by green organizations like Blockadia and by the Indigenous people who see their once pristine land being decimated and destroyed.