A Talk by Bill McKibben
Friday, October 16, 2009
For those who don't know, Bill McKibben is a writer and environmentalist who wrote The End of Nature, one of the first books about climate change for a general audience, in 1989. Since then he has written a number of other books about environmental issues and has been very active in promoting awareness and action on a variety of environmental topics. His most recent endeavor is 350.org, "an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis" which is organizing an upcoming day of action around the world to bring people together in support of creating global policies that can perhaps help repair some of the damage we've done to the Earth's environment and climate.
I was introduced to McKibben through two books - Long Distance, which chronicled both his efforts to train for a year for elite level cross-country ski racing and his father's coincident decline and death from brain cancer, and Wandering Home, which documents a 3 week hike from his current home in Vermont to his former home in the Adirondacks. I enjoyed Wandering Home but found Long Distance fascinating enough that I've read it several times, not in the least because at times McKibben masterfully articulates the reasons I push myself to do my best in races knowing that I will never win and most likely will never in place in my age group (unless perhaps I'm still doing this stuff when I'm in my 70's or 80's...) So needless to say I was pretty excited when I heard that McKibben would be speaking to us at the Albany Academies as part of a lecture series established in memory of Amanda Morrison '02.
I came away from his lecture both pleased and a little bit disappointed... pleased because he presented some fairly cogent arguments about why climate change is a potentially catastrophic problem and then gave information about the efforts of 350.org to organize people to push for change. The number 350 is significant because 350 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere is the maximum amount some scientists consider safe (ie. not leading to catastrophic climate change.) Unfortunately, we're currently at just below 390 ppm, with an increase ofabout 2 ppm per year. The hope is that organizations like 350.org can push governments to make changes that will eventually allow that number to drop back down to safe levels; as part of this, they're working to organize a series of demonstrations and rallies on Saturday, October 24, 2009. (For more info, I'd recommend checking out the FAQs at 350.org, which do a nice job of summarizing the main points of what they're trying to accomplish and why.) I know there's still a good deal of disagreement in the scientific community over how much of a threat climate change really is, whether or not it's a natural effect or something humans have influenced, and if we have any hope of actually making significant changes to keep things at safe levels. But it seems to me that the risks of inaction far outweigh the costs of actions which may ultimately have no significant effect, so I definitely support efforts to raise awareness and push for change in how we affect the world around us.
At the same time, I came away a bit disappointed because what captivated me in the two books I read was McKibben's stories about experiencing the outdoors, and that wasn't something he talked about today. With good reason - there's no doubt that global warming is a much more important and urgent topic - but I still would have liked to have heard more about his personal experiences. But so it goes...
Looking around during the lecture, I suspect the vast majority of the students were bored out of their skulls, some were interested because they're concerned about the environment, and some were aggravated because they feel the issue of climate change is a plot to promote a liberal agenda. Ironic, really, that the adults were probably the most interested listeners in the room, seeing that the kids (and their future kids) are the ones who will really have to deal with the long-term effects of these issues, one way or another.
JMH
