Environmentalist Bill McKibben: ‘Mother Nature is a very powerful educator

Bill McKibben, 58, is an author, environmentalist and founder of 350.org, a global grass-roots climate change movement. He spearheaded the fossil fuel divestment movement and resistance to the Keystone oil pipeline. His latest book, “Falter,” will be released in April.

Bill McKibben is an author, environmentalist and founder of 350.org.

What drew you to environmental issues first, and can you talk about your progression from writing to full-fledged activism?

My first job out of college was at the New Yorker. And I wrote my first long piece about where everything in my apartment came from. You know, Con Ed was getting oil from Brazil, so I went down to Brazil, and up to the Arctic [where] they were getting hydro power. Along the New York City water system, on garbage barges, in sewer systems and so on. Somehow, doing that reporting impressed on me not only the physical-ness of the planet, but the fact that these were somewhat vulnerable systems, more fragile than I had assumed. That set me reading the early science on climate change. And I wrote “The End of Nature,” the first book about this subject for a nonscientific audience.

Read the story from The Washington Post magazine by KK Ottesen - “Environmentalist Bill McKibben: ‘Mother Nature is a very powerful educator.”