Or is there another avenue to this information?

Yes, and it is available to even anonymous visitors. Just append ';displaytype=edithistory' to the URL for any node whose history you want to see. For example, /?displaytype=edithistory;node_id=1130859. No, there is no way to see a summary of all consideration activity w/o being a cabal member.

The "node history" link for the current node is also included in the "Approval Nodelet" (which is available to people who can create and vote on considerations). The contents of individual edits are available to anybody who is logged in (for most edits).