Adam Met is a part-time professor in Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. But his summer should be more interesting than that of the average PhD.
First, as the “A” in the brother band AJR, he’ll be joining the “J” (Jack) and the “R” (Ryan) on select dates of the trio’s new-music-showcasing amphitheater tour.
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Second—and the reason that he won’t be playing all of the AJR shows—he’ll be on the road promoting the book that he’s just written with Heather Landy, Amplify (Harmony).
Sub-titled How to Use the Power of Connection to Engage, Take Action, and Build a Better World, it reads like a 21st-century cross between Ralph Nader’s Action for a Change: A Student’s Manual for Public Interest Organizing and Andrew Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. It seeks, in other words, to equip young social activists with practical strategies for making the changes that they want to make without turning off more people than they turn on.
“In movement-building,” reads one representative section, “the strengths of an organization are the resonance of the cause itself, the passion that leaders and supporters bring to it, and the tools used to amplify and steer all this energy that might otherwise run amok.”
Much of what Met has to say reflects his progressive perspective in general and his passion for climate change and sustainability in particular. But in the chapter “Graceland,” he goes bi-partisan, explaining how he found a patch of common ground (about the need to prevent natural-gas pipelines from leaking) with a conservative firebrand whose son happened to be an AJR fan, Glenn Beck.
“I’m sure there are going to be people who say, ‘I can’t believe Adam went and spent time with Glenn Beck and gave him the platform to share the work that he’s doing,’” says Met. “But I vehemently disagree with them. Everybody should be speaking to people that they disagree with. And I think that even if you don’t come to some sort of agreement, it’s a learning experience for each person.”
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