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Earth Chats: Bill McKibbenIf we don't slow global warming through growth control, we'll have to fight its disastrous effects.


Posted Monday, April 21, 2008, at 5:26 PM ET

(Continued from page 1)

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Honolulu: Concerning growth, isn't the problem that we constantly try to maximize it instead of identifying and then preserving an optimal point? Doesn't anything (e.g. capitalism, democracy) that grows beyond a certain optimal point start to become dysfunctional and eventually defective?

Bill McKibben: An interesting question. It seems possible to me that economies and societies may need to grow for a while, and then need to mature. In my view, the signals we're now getting from the natural world are a sign that the maturation moment is upon us. (the tough part is that the Indian economy, say, still needs to grow—people there are too poor. How we'll manage to let that happen is going to be the bloody crux of the global negotiations now beginning)

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New York: On Sept. 11, 2005, to mark the fourth anniversary of the attacks, you published an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle claiming Hurricane Katrina's destruction was a direct result of anthropogenic global warming. You wrote that "Katrina marks Year One of our new calendar, the start of an age in which the physical world has flipped from sure and secure to volatile and unhinged." In the past week, prominent studies have concluded that there is absolutely no link between higher average temperature and storm intensity. Do you stand by your earlier statements?

washingtonpost.com: After Katrina, the climate just gets worse and worse (San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 11, 2005)

Bill McKibben: Sure

In the first place, you dramatically overstate the retrenchment on hurricane data—see, for instance, Andy Revkin's talk with Kerry Emmanuel at DotEarth recently

Second, the world has become far more volatile and unhinged in the years since. For instance, the Arctic melted at a bizarre and unprecedented rate last summer, scaring the hell out of many scientists.

I imagine, in a world of rising sea levels and increased storminess, the pictures of Katrina will haunt us for a very long time, much like the pictures of 9/11

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Washington: Do you think that it's important for the U.S. to be leader in fighting climate change, even if China and other countries are slower to adapt?

Bill McKibben: We've got to be the leader. We've been pouring carbon into the atmosphere for more than a century (and co2's residence time in the atmosphere can be upwards of a hundred years); the Chinese are rank beginners. And their per capita emissions are 1/4 ours (which means they could 'solve' their greenhouse problem by splitting into 4 countries, each as large as the US but with only 1/4 the emissions). We're going to have to set a good example—and we're going to have to be willing to broker some kind of carbon Marshall plan that lets them develop without burning all that 2 cents/kwh coal.

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Washington: Would drilling for oil in Alaska help North America's environmental concerns?

Bill McKibben: Um, no.

ANWR holds at best a few months supply of oil. The place to drill is under Detroit—big increases in mileage would do endlessly more for our energy security.

Meanwhile, any oil you find in Alaska now will be a) a mess to drill but more importantly b)a mess to burn. We've got to leave as much coal and gas and oil in the ground as possible, and a good place to start exercising restraint would be at the very farthest fringe of our continent.

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Arlington, Texas: What is the biggest environmental challenge facing the planet today?

Bill McKibben: Global warming. If we don't slow it down soon, we'll be doing nothing but responding to its effects.

We've just formed 350.org, the first attempt at a global grassroots climate movement. It's kind of fun (join us!). It's also kind of a longshot.

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Latrobe, Pennsylvania: I attend a small college in the foothills of Pennsylvania, and considering that my campus is immersed in nature, we consistently endanger our beautiful landscape with ongoing construction, paving new parking lots to accommodate growth, and constantly running a parking shuttle to and from these new parking lots (which, may I add, aren't that far from campus). I'm currently working on a project proposal to "green" our campus by replanting the trees cut down by construction. What is an effective argument to compromise and balance growth with environmental awareness? Is it possible?

Bill McKibben: One way is to work the other way around. Get your college to sign on to the President's Climate Imitative (700 colleges or so have done so already). then start pointing out the things that really need to be done to get to carbon neutrality. Check out AASHE (Am Assoc for Sustainability in Higher Ed, or some such) for good help in the effort. And thanks!

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East Lansing, Mich.: Do you support state or federal regulatory regimes that encourage private development of green energy sources?

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Bill McKibben is the author of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, the Atlantic, Harper's, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, Outside, and Grist.
Photograph of Bill McKibben by Toby Talbot/AP Photo.
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