Bill McKibben is a gifted writer and a lifelong activist. He was an early prophet calling out the threat of a changing climate. His first book The End of Nature came out in 1989. It made dire predictions. They have all come true. 

21 books later, he has written a book of hope. 

Here Comes The Sun. A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization

Bill is no less concerned now about the climate crisis. He has finally found some good news to celebrate. McKibben believes that five years ago we passed a tipping point. For the first time in human history, it is cheaper to create the energy that powers our lives with renewable sources. Solar and wind have finally advanced to where they are less expensive than coal and oil. This is thanks to years of efforts by activists and engineers. And thanks to governments around the world that have supported these efforts. The US is not the leader.

This doesn’t mean that the struggle to maintain a livable planet is over. Even if we change all of our energy consumption over to the green sources tomorrow, our planet will get hotter and more perilous for human and animal life. Our kids will do our best to deal with that. 

But we might be able to avoid the most destructive outcomes that will otherwise transform our planet as a place that cannot support our civilization for a long time to come. If we move quickly.
 

If there was such a thing as a free market, the transformation to sun and wind would have already taken place. A free market responds to the best products that satisfy our needs at the best price. But the US market is controlled by the same forces that profit the most from burning oil and coal. It is the cancer of monopoly that rules our markets, a very different “invisible hand” from that described by Adam Smith.

McKibben believes that the change to renewable energy is inevitable, but the timetable is not. It is critical that we change over very quickly; that we change over now. Every day more irreparable damage is done. A molecule of CO2 in the atmosphere causes increased warming for millennia to come.

Bill believes in two great inventions of the 20th century. One is the solar panel. The other is the nonviolent social movement. Bill has been a builder of nonviolent social movements since he resigned from a job as a writer for the New Yorker in 1987. Building social movements fits in with his part time role as a Sunday School teacher.

Bill’s most recent movement building was around The Third Act. This loosely organized group of folks over 60 have come together in grassroots chapters all over the country. They are reclaiming their commitment to social change, focused on climate. Now this activism is from the perspective of someone older, with a little more time and a seasoned perspective. The idea is to follow the young people in their First Act who are already leading the change. It is an exciting idea, obvious when someone says it out loud.

What does this have to do with farming? Everything.

A decade ago many farmers in America still believed that climate change was a liberal hoax. Now it is so plain to see the change happening that instead of denying it, most farmers are struggling to adapt, and are asking for all the help they can get.

Flooding and drought have become the bleakly shifting alternatives that challenge us. They swap dominance like rotating contra dancers. Now a drought. Now a flood. Lower soil organic matter makes both worse, but no amount of organic matter can protect us from the fires and water bombs sweeping through some communities. We struggle as higher temperatures occur every year, breaking old records and old ways of knowing. New insects ravage our forests and crops. Vermont becomes Connecticut and Pennsylvania becomes Virginia. California becomes a burning desert, but sometimes flooding there turns a town into an island. People are dying in the fires. There is no sign that the changes will slow down.

The growing stream of climate refugees creates political instability which creates even more streams of refugees. The world becomes a scarier place.

I asked Bill about farming and its role in carbon sequestration. He thinks that is real, and that positive changes to our farming must come. But there isn’t enough time for that to save us. Our immediate problem is to stem the bleeding. There are 25 companies responsible for most of the world’s climate destruction. There are 2 billion farmers in the world. We must change how we farm, but first we must stop the fire in our house. We have the tools. We have the means. We just have to overcome the crazed opposition of those 25 companies.

Listen to this interview. It is brief and to the point. It is worth listening to.

I recommend that every citizen, every youngster and every oldster and every parent read or listen to this book, Here Comes The Sun. It is that important.

Join The Third Act. Or make your own Act, whatever number you are on. Lobby our government, which at the moment is doing everything in its power to OPPOSE solar and wind. They do the bidding of the oil companies, just as Trump promised he would when they donated half a billion dollars to his campaign.

One thing is clear. Whatever we are going to do, we have to do it together.

Dave