Bill McKibben

Fellow, Climate, Ecology & Economy

Climate, Economics, Ecology

Bill McKibben, scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College, is an American environmentalist and writer. He is the author of twelve books, including The End of Nature (1989), the first book for a general audience about global warming, and, most recently, Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (2007), which addresses what the he sees as shortcomings of the growth economy and envisions a transition to more local-scale enterprise. His latest book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet explores what it means to live on a planet we’ve changed fundamentally.

Bill is a frequent contributor to various publications including The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone, and Outside. He is also a board member and contributor to Grist Magazine. Bill's 350.org Day of Action on October 24, 2009, was the largest environmental action in history.

videos

Can Government Lead by Example on Climate Change?

length: 7:09   credit: Planet Forward

Post Carbon Fellow Bill McKibben is interviewed by Frank Sesno. 350.org's Bill McKibben thinks government can be the answer after all. Riding off his recent 10/10/10 event, McKibben argues that governments can affect incremental change on the climate debate by publicly adopting small-scale climate solutions.

audio

McKibben Says Keystone Victory Only Temporary

length: 6:39   credit: VPRdownload

When the news broke last week that President Obama rejected the Keystone XL pipeline that would have brought oil from the Canadian tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico, many Vermont environmentalists cheered.

Among those were author and environmentalist Bill McKibben. His group 350.org has been speaking out against the pipeline, and McKibben even got himself arrested last fall while protesting the project in the nation's capitol.

McKibben says the pipeline poses dangers to the region in Canada where the oil is extracted, and to the environmentally sensitive areas the pipeline would pass through. And McKibben says the nature of the tar sand oil as opposed to regular crude poses unique problems.

Latest Publications

We won. You won.

Bill McKibben    Nov 11, 2011   

Dear Friends, The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline that we’ve been fighting for months has been effectively killed. The President didn’t outright reject the Keystone XL pipeline permit, but a few minutes ago he … >>

Congress doesn’t know when to stop digging

Bill McKibben    Jan 13, 2012   

[Excerpt]: John Boehner’s got a problem — a statistical trap that’s going to take some real work to get out of. His drive to completely discredit the institution of the Congress has stalled: 9 percent of … >>

The Post Carbon Reader

Bill McKibben

How do population, water, energy, food, and climate issues impact one another? What can we do to address one problem without making the others worse? The Post Carbon Reader features essays by some of the world’s most … >>

press coverage

McKibben profile in The Boston Globe

Bill McKibben  

Post Carbon Fellow Bill McKibben was profiled as The man who crushed the Keystone XL pipeline in the Boston Globe Magazine. From the article: McKibben is a prolific writer, and his many books, essays, and editorials have … >>