Recognizing the Environmental Work of
'The End of Nature' Author Bill McKibben
by Mickey Z.
Bill McKibben, Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College, is the author of a dozen books about the environment, including
The End of Nature
(1989), regarded as the first book for a general audience about global
warming. He is also founder of the global grassroots climate movement
350.org,
which organized what CNN called "the most widespread day of political
action in the planet's history." Most recently, he was the recipient of
the annual
$100,000 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship.
Of this honor, McKibben said:
"I'm a beginner as an organizer; it’s a great honor to be
included on this list of people who have changed America for the better.
I am deeply grateful to The Puffin Foundation and The Nation Institute
for this recognition of my work. I am even more appreciative that this
award is representative of a shared conviction that now is a singular
moment in our history for all people of good conscience to come together
in defense of the planet. Our work has never been more urgent."
On that note, I interviewed Bill McKibben and would like to share our conversation with you.
WATCH VIDEO: Noam Chomsky and Bill McKibben Talk Climate Change
Is 350 the Most Important Number in the World?
My Conversation With Bill McKibben
Planet Green: You’ve noted that this award highlights your shift
from writer to organizer. Can you tell us more about how and why you
made that shift?
Bill McKibben: At some point it became obvious to me that we were
losing badly in the global warming fight, and that one reason was we had
no movement. All the scientific studies and policy plans on earth don't
get you very far if there's no movement to push them. so we're doing
our best to build that—too late and too slowly, but as best we can.
PG: Of your work, Derrick Jensen
has said: “One of the problems that I see with the vast majority of
so-called solutions to global warming is that they take industrial
capitalism as a given and the planet which must conform to industrial
capitalism, as opposed to the other way around.” How do you respond to
this critique?
BM: It strikes me that the single biggest variable explaining the
structure of the world today is the availability of cheap fossil
fuel—that's what happened two hundred years ago to create the world we
know, especially its centralization. I think if we can put a serious
price on fossil fuel, one that reflects the damage it does to our earth,
than the fuels that we will depend on—principally wind and sun—will
push us in the direction of more localized economies. Those kind of
changes have been the focus of my work as a writer in recent years
PG: So many people believe they’re already “doing their
part,” e.g. recycling, using CFL bulbs, bringing their own bag to the
grocery store, etc. How do we help them see ASAP that this isn’t even
remotely enough?
BM: Well, I think we keep encouraging them to become politically
active too, not instead. It's good to do what you can around your house;
and our job is to help people realize that there are ways they can be
effective in a larger sphere too. That's what movements are. And
especially with climate change, the feeling that you're too small to
make a difference can be crippling.
PG: The US Department of Defense is the world’s worst
polluter, the planet’s top gas guzzler, and recipient of 53.3% of
American taxpayer dollars. How does your work address this situation and
the concurrent “untouchable” status the US military has among the
majority of American citizens?
BM: I'm not sure it really does, directly. Indirectly, I think the
biggest reason we have the oversized defense that we do is that we rely
on distant and unstable sources of energy as the core of our economy. I
remember one sign in particular from the early Anti-Iraq-War rallies I
went to: "How did our oil end up under their sand?"
PG: Since 51% of human-created greenhouse gases come from the industrial meat-based diet, are you encouraging people to adopt a plant-based diet lifestyle?
BM: I've written time and again that industrial agriculture,
especially factory livestock farming, is a bane—not only for its
greenhouse gases, but for myriad other reasons. Interestingly, though,
scientific data from the last couple of years is leading to the
conclusion that local, grass-pastured, often-moved livestock, by the
action of their hooves and the constant deposition of manure, improve
soils enough to soak up more carbon and methane than they produce. (This
would explain why, say, there could have been more ungulates on the
continent 300 years ago than now without it being a curse to the
atmosphere). So there may be hope for meat-eaters as well—but only if
you know and understand where your dinner is coming from.
PG: Is there a question you’ve always wished to be asked during an interview? If so, please feel free to ask and answer now.
BM: I've...done a lot of interviews.
PG: What do you like to do when not engaged in writing, organizing, and activism? What inspires you outside of those realms?
BM: I like to be outdoors—ross-country skiing most of all, or hiking.
That's why I live in the woods. And that's why it's tough to be on the
road so much organizing. But I love the people, especially the young
people, who are my colleagues.
PG: How can Planet Green readers connect with you and get involved with your work?
BM: By going to 350.org and signing up.
We spent what little money we had on a website; it works in about a
dozen languages, and we think it's pretty sharp.
Links That Fit the Bill
Bill McKibben Drops In On a Protest at a Boulder Power Plant, Says Coal Still Sucks
Eco-Activist Mike Roselle Declares: "Action is the Antidote to Despair" (Interview)
