What We Can’t Burn: Friendship and Friction in the Fight for Our Energy Future

Eve was a fossil fuel divestment activist from Massachusetts who was coming to believe capitalism was at the root of the climate crisis. Tom was a clean energy entrepreneur from a rural village in Kenya who believed the activist approach was suspended from the real-world experiences of those facing the worst of the crisis’ effects. They met as juniors at Harvard, launching a journey in which their conflicting perspectives almost tore their unlikely friendship apart.

Raw, funny, and lyrical, WHAT WE CAN’T BURNis a memoir in two voices about coming of age in a world confused and divided about how to save itself. Set in both Kenya and the United States, this timely story is a singular testament to the power of dialogue, humor, and friendship to help us find our place among the many currents of change-making that cut across the world today.

EVE DRIVER is a climate policy advisor, consultant, and journalist with a focus on environmental justice and innovation. Her writing has appeared in Grist, Quartz, Mongabay, and elsewhere, and she has spoken on panels sponsored by international environmental organizations including The Better Future Project and Uprooted & Rising. Most recently, she has worked as a policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Energy.

TOM OSBORN is a community-oriented entrepreneur and co- founder of the Shamiri Institute--a public benefit organization that develops and scales mental healthcare to young people across Africa. He is a 2021 TED Fellow and global Forbes’ 30 under 30 social entrepreneur, and has won numerous national and international awards for his work, including the World Deliver Social Entrepreneur of the year in 2016 and the Donors’ Circle for Africa Energy Prize.