He calls himself an “unlikely activist,” although Bill McKibben has certainly left his mark on America’s environmental debate. With more than a dozen books, articles appearing in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and National Geographic among others, and several campaigns for environmental activism, it is hard to consider him anything but one of the most prolific environmentalists of this century.
McKibben will speak to the Miami University community at 7 pm Wednesday April 8 in Hall Auditorium. His talk is entitled The Education of an Unlikely Activist, and follows his most recent book, Oil and Honey. Not only is he a proponent of taking steps toward mitigating climate change and harmful human effects on the environment, he also led the largest civil disobedience in thirty years to protest the Keystone XL pipeline, an issue still in the forefront of national debate.
In addition to the Keystone XL campaign. McKibben has organized several others including Step It Up 2007, which demanded Congress act to curb carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050. To further his belief in organized activism, McKibben founded 350.org, a website dedicated to solving climate problems from the bottom up with the goal of uniting the world in a grassroots movement to “create the solutions that will ensure a better future for all.”
Although McKibben may consider his role an “unlikely” one, he is indeed an activist. According to the Boston Globe, he is “probably America’s most important environmentalists,” and he has certainly helped bring the fight for planet earth into the hands of the people. His passion for the environment is as evident as his mission to not only bring awareness to environmental issues, but to take steps toward solving them.
McKibben's Mark
