The 38th annual Earth Day comes after an extraordinary year of environmental news. Polar bears seem on the verge of being declared an endangered species. In October, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a panel of climate scientists. And, as of last night, George W. Bush seems to have completed his reversal of course on cutting carbon emissions.
Clearly, there’s a lot to talk about. This week, Slate is hosting some of the world’s most eminent environmental thinkers, leaders, and advocates, and inviting them to answer questions from our readers about what’s happening to our world and what we can do about it.
Continue checking back throughout the week as we expand our schedule of chats:
Monday
Read the transcript of our chat with conservative conservationist Newt Gingrich. After serving 20 years as a Republican congressman, Gingrich has devoted himself to a bipartisan “mainstream environmentalism,” which he outlines in his 2007 book A Contract With the Earth.
Read the transcript of our chat with author and advocate Bill McKibben, who has been writing books on environmentalism for almost 20 years. He’s written a handbook on how to stop global warming and a treatise on the importance of having smaller families. In Deep Economy, just out in paperback, McKibben lays out an economic policy that focuses on local communities, as opposed to unending “growth.”
Tuesday
Read the transcript of our chat with Academy Award-nominated actor and environmental activist Edward Norton. Norton is the host of National Geographic’s Strange Days on Planet Earth, which covers topics like climate change, overfishing, water pollution, and the quest for clean energy. He also helped start a program to provide low-income families in Los Angeles with solar-powered homes, and he has worked on promoting the development of green spaces in urban areas.
Friday
Read the transcript of our chat with global-warming activist Laurie David. David was a producer of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and is the creator of environmentally themed programming for TBS and HBO. She also founded the Stop Global Warming Virtual March with Sen. John McCain and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and blogs on environmental issues at the Huffington Post. Click here to ask your question.
