Author and climate activist Bill McKibben has created two new initiatives.
The first is a newsletter he’s titled “The Crucial Years,” available through Substack with various subscription options.
In the introduction to the newsletter, he writes “I’ll try to highlight what seem to me the most important developments, and rally people for the most important fights.”
While users can sign up for free, those choosing to support McKibben’s work with a paid subscription will help fund another new initiative he is announcing at the same time: A grassroots movement similar to 350.org, which McKibben founded. This new project, called Third Act is geared toward mobilizing members of the Baby Boomer and Silent generations to get more involved in climate change activism.
As an incentive for paid subscribers to The Crucial Years, McKibben is offering a chance to get a first read on his latest work — A book of fiction that he describes as a companion piece to his first fictional novel titled “Radio Free Vermont.” (Click here for a review we ran in the Explorer in 2018.)
He writes: “My pandemic hobby did not involve learning to make sourdough bread; instead, I finally finished off a long and wandering tale that I’ve been working on for years. I hesitate to call it a novel—perhaps “yarn” would be more descriptive. It’s a prequel/sequel in certain ways to the only other fiction I’ve ever published, a freakishly popular little volume called Radio Free Vermont. This one is called The Other Cheek, and it spans the globe, constituting my effort to see if movement building can be made as dramatic as the violence we normally enjoy; think of it as a superhero adventure where the superheroes have no special powers. In any event, if you pay to subscribe to this newsletter, you’ll get another little chunk of The Other Cheek every week—that is, in Dickensian fashion it will come as a serial.”
More by McKibben
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Over fifty years ago, the Upper Hudson Environmental Action Committee (UHEAC) began to hold annual Earth Day events in the southern Adirondacks on behalf of the Earth’s natural environment. For our mantra we chose the words of Rene’ Dubos; “If you cannot do something about that stream or those lovely marshlands in your town, then how do you think you are going to save the world?” Many Adirondackers responded and got involved in our efforts. Then the times changed and the world moved on.
Half a century later, climate activists like Bill McKibben, Greta Thunberg, and many others are warning us that our time is up. They tell us we must act NOW if life on earth is to survive much longer. The question that every one of us must ask ourselves is; Are we now ready get involved? Or has the world moved on once again?
For those willing to get involved, the words of Rene’ Dubos still ring true today. The climate work needed to save our planet MUST begin by repairing our broken local governance. We must put aside our differences and start working together. We have got to restore trust, honesty and fact based decision making which prioritizes the needs of the environment and the needs of ALL members of our community over selfish greed and political grandstanding.
If we can achieve this, good local government will soon trickle upward and give us the means to repair our climate. If we are successful, Earth’s life sustaining environment will be our legacy to the children and grandchildren of the world.