Why He's Taking Radical Action...
Bill McKibben…if you don’t know his name…you will soon.
Time Magazine called him “the planet’s best green journalist”. His first book, The End of Nature” was published in 1989 and was the first book on climate change directed to the public.
Since then, he’s written a dozen books about the environment, founded 350.org, a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis and is a distinguished scholar at Middlebury College.
His book, Eaarth, is about life on a different planet…one that needs our help and needs old habits to change.
There’s a critical issue in front of President Obama about a pipeline being planned from Alberta, Canada to the southern states which would extract oil from tar sands. This isn’t just any pipeline…but a $7 billion, 1700-mile pipeline. Obama can either stop it or sign away.
How important is the decision on this?
NASA scientist, James Hansen, believes it is “the defining moment for the earth’s future climate and survival.” For Bill McKibben, it’s so critical that he’s taking radical action and heading to the White House with 1000 other people who plan to be in the President’s view for two weeks. “This isn’t a problem like other problems…we can’t come back to it in 10 years when the politics may be better.”
Beyond the implications for the earth’s atmosphere there are also concerns on the ground.
The proposed pipeline would cross 70 rivers and streams and the Ogallala Aquifer which provides nearly 1/3 of the groundwater used to irrigate US crops.
And, the July spill in Montana, from a pipeline buried 5 feet below the riverbed, is just 160 miles downstream from the proposed Keystone pipeline that would also cross the Yellowstone.
And, if you want to have your voice heard, click on this link.
Should you read the book?
"Read it, please. Straight through to the end. Whatever else you were planning to do next, nothing could be more important." —Barbara Kingsolver, author of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle