Longtime Environmental Activist Encouraged, Hopeful

Influential environmental activist and writer, Bill McKibben, took some time to speak with Scoop08’s Environment Correspondent, Garrett Broad about the current status of the environmental movement
and its impact on the economy. McKibben has published several books
about topics such as global warming, limitations of the growth economy,
and the dangers of human genetic engineering, and has contributed to a
variety of publications, including The New York Times, Mother Jones, and Outside.

Garrett Broad: With a five-day march across Vermont, you were
a leader of what many call the largest demonstration ever held to bring
attention to global warming. There has been a lot of talk about the
record-breaking youth turnout throughout this election season – have
young people played major roles in your organizations?

Bill McKibben: Absolutely – all my colleagues at StepItUp, which organized 2000 demonstrations across the U.S. last year, and now at 350.org,
which is going to try and do the same thing globally, are 22 and 23
years old, very recent college graduates. We work extensively with high
school and college kids. It's a burgeoning movement, led by EnergyAction on campuses across the country.

GB: How would you compare environmental youth activism today to when you were a student?

BM: Much, much, much stronger – which makes sense because the stakes are much, much, much higher.

GB: Of the three remaining candidates, is there any one whose
environmental philosophy or policy plans distinguish them from the
others?

BM: I think Obama is clearly the obvious choice – less because
of the distinctiveness of his policies (both he and Clinton are fine on
global warming) than for the potential game-changing possibilities he
brings to our role vis a vis other nations. We're hated right now; I'm
confident he can turn that around, and given the international
cooperation we need to deal with global warming, that's a good thing.

GB: The general thesis of your new book, “Deep Economy,” is
that we need to move beyond growth as the fundamental basis for our
economic system. Many of our readers are children of the Reagan years
and later, so they would probably be surprised to hear that there is
any alternative. Why move away from growth, and what can we move
towards?

BM: We can try to make our economy ask a couple of other
questions beyond "Can we make it bigger?" One would be, "can we make it
last?" and the other would be "Can we make it satisfying?" The point of
“Deep Economy” is that at the moment our economy is neither durable nor
producing much in the way of happiness, at least compared with other
nations.

GB: Still, all we hear from the current presidential
candidates is that a transition to a "green economy" is an amazing
opportunity for economic growth. How would you respond?

BM: I think that what growth we'll get from our system will come
in the transition to new forms of energy. It stands to be much bigger
even than the telecom/Internet transition. And I have no problem with
that – I'm hopeful that much of the new energy system will be less
centralized and more distributed, however.

GB: It has been almost 20 years since the first publication
of your book “The End of Nature” – as far as political and social
progress, how far do you think we have come since then?

BM: It's been very slow until the last two years. Now, finally,
we've got a political movement starting to build. We'll see if it's in
time, and if it can happen everywhere -that's why we've just launched
350.org.

GB: You continually make calls for a large-scale social
movement: "A political swell larger than the civil rights movement.”
But how can we move from awareness of the problems to action?

BM: We need those who understand and care to be active. Visit us at 350.org – we'll make you a powerful actor in this drama.

GB: There has been increased attention on climate
change in recent years, but this is not the first time environmental
issues have caught people's eye. How do we know this time will be
different?

BM: I'm afraid physics and chemistry will make sure we don't forget.

GB: What role does the Internet and other new electronic media outlets play in this sustainability movement?

BM: It's crucial – there's no way we could do the kind of
organizing we're doing without it. And it allows us to imagine strong
local communities and economies that are still connected to a larger
world.

GB: If you were President McKibben, what policies would you put in place to reduce our footprint?

BM: We've got to make the price of fossil fuel reflect the
damage that carbon does to the earth. If we did, then markets would
automatically help us solve this problem.

GB: But it is not going to be a McKibben administration. What
are your best hopes for the first four years of a new leader? Your
worst fears?

BM: Best hope – a comprehensive international agreement that
aims at returning the planet's carbon concentration to 350 parts per
million. Worst fear – dawdling while we go over the cliff.

To learn more about Bill McKibben and his work visit his Web site