In Conversation with Bill McKibben

The Climate Emergency Forum welcomes Bill McKibben in a discussion on the urgency of addressing climate change, noting that the past year has seen record-breaking high temperatures, with 2023 and 2024 being the hottest on record in at least 125,000 years.
This video was recorded on March 20th, 2024, and published on March 31st, 2024.
The dialogue features Paul Beckwith, Peter Carter and Charles Gregoire. McKibben emphasizes that the world is now in a climate emergency, with the 1.5°C temperature goal from the Paris Agreement already breached.
McKibben highlights that the key solution lies in rapidly transitioning to renewable energy, as it is now the cheapest form of power generation. However, he criticizes the fossil fuel industry for continuing to deny and delay this transition through various excuses. To overcome this, McKibben says the focus must be on changing the political balance of power, which is why he has founded the "Third Act" movement to organize older Americans to support the climate action efforts of younger generations.
McKibben praises the work of young climate activists, but argues that they need the backing of older, more politically and financially powerful individuals to truly drive the necessary changes. He advocates for strategies like targeting the expansion of liquefied natural gas exports, as well as leveraging the skills and resources of the older generation to complement the energy and idealism of the youth climate movement.
Links:
- Bill McKibben’s website
billmckibben.com/index.html
- Third Act
thirdact.org/
- 350.org
350.org
- The End of Nature
/ 199359.the_end_of_nature
- Canada on Fire (CEF Video)
• Canada on Fire
- Rocking Chair Rebellion' of Senior Citizens Joins Climate Protest
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-...
- How older climate activists helped win the fight over LNG exports
wagingnonviolence.org/2024/02...
- The door to B.C.'s liquefied natural gas export sector is about to open. Here's what you need to know.
thenarwhal.ca/bc-lng-export-e...
- Tzeporah Berman (wikipedia)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzepora...
- Metta Spencer
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metta_S...
- Science for Peace
www.scienceforpeace.org/
- Metta Spencer’s website
mettaspencer.com/
Special Guest:
Bill McKibben - is an American environmentalist, author, and journalist who has written extensively on the impact of global warming. He is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College and the founder of the climate campaign group 350.org and Thirdact.org. He has authored 20 books about the environment, including his first, The End of Nature (1989), about climate change, and Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? (2019), about the state of the environmental challenges facing humanity and future prospects.
Regular Panelists:
Dr. Peter Carter - MD, Expert IPCC Reviewer and the director of the Climate Emergency Institute
Paul Beckwith - Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa's Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University
Video Production:
Charles Gregoire - Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth & the Climate Emergency Forum; Climate Reality Leader
Heidi Brault - Video production and website assistant, Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP team lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum; BA (Psychology); Climate Reality Leader
Our Website:
climateemergencyforum.org/
Attributions:
Background Music:
- Title: Through the City II
- Author: Crowander
- Source: Free Music Archive
- License: CC BY-NC 4.0
Image and Video: climateemergencyforum.org/ass...

[@suziperret468]

Thank you Bill McKibben.

[@CoinsBand]

Young people need to be in touch with this information, that seems to be one of the biggest disconnects. Figuring out how to communicate the urgency while enabling agency (instead of apathy) I’d say is the golden ticket.

[@monkeyfist.348]

Nice to see Bill joining our Canadian team for a chat. He really did get to the point of our moment now. The education of society now needs to shift into the action phase. First, by political action and direct involvement with the political system. We need a better quality of leader than the ones we are getting. That means we need to be there in the selection process. We need to push for a faster and more substantial effort. Our actions can be largely over the internet, but people must show in the streets to get the public acknowledgement required. While we are doing that, we also must address the "what comes next" question everyone has. The people must be instructed on the kinds of work or occupations that are critical to our success. The example of the Canadian fires should inform us on the need to create a much larger forestry management system. We should assume that at least fifty percent of the population will not have a deep understanding of how we must now transition into a wholly different system and way of life. Thanks for the great chat!

[@heidibrault1313]

Thank you so much for your support!

[@EmeraldView]

Some people need to have and can't let go of hope. It's understandable. Me, well I don't see stopping this runaway train. We're not even hitting the increasingly ineffective brakes.

[@mrrecluse7002]

I will just say we have an obligation to do everything we can, sparing no expense, despite the fact that I agree with you.

[@zenape619]

Imagine spending your life trying to stop the train. Poor Bill.

[@TennesseeJed]

Human civilization is a heat engine.

[@tinoyb9294]

The red-arsed-monkeys will never realize that there will have to be less of everything, including population, for there to be a chance.

[@annabbott1963]

This is very refreshing. I wish you all would talk to the older generation in my neighborhood who won't even pass the installation of EV charging stations in common areas. Or my own parking spot that comes with my house. But don't worry I just charge in the wild, not letting anyone stop me from owning the car I want.

[@nancylaplaca]

Thank you all for a great interview! Go Bill, Paul, Peter and Charles!

[@heidibrault1313]

Thank you so much for your support!

[@FacingFuture]

Great to see BIll McKibben on Climate Emergency!

[@cityofwelland634]

That was excellent. It is clear that the car companies and oil companies are not interested in changing and they are the biggest target with a bullseye on their backs. Perhaps the electric car isn't the final answer but it is a step in the right direction. We all need to improve asap. I cycled to work that last 10 years of my work life to keep the gasoline from being burned. So the message is great and we all need to help.

[@teemulaulajainen9410]

Replacing all worlds 1,5 billion combustion automobiles with EV's is an unrealistic scenario.

[@richardjarrell3585]

If the world is running out of sand, how are all those solar panels supposed to be manufactured?

[@RajendraTayya-rh9mk]

Solving problems is exploring possibilities. Preventing problems is balancing the extremes.

[@dion8962]

😙👌💨 Smokin on dat hopium … everything we rely on for life in the modern world is supported by fossil fuels.

[@airheartwoodmiller]

Blaming the fossil-fuel corporations is conveniently futile, when we don’t want to face our own emissions. There is no question that there is a strong correlation between emissions and wealth, not just what we may consider extreme wealth but wealth to enjoy air travel which billions could never dream of. Rationing emissions is rational and humane but far too inconvenient.

[@mythicalnomadadventure969]

I got a question: Vehicles & dwellings run well on stored renewables. But thats only half of our climate problem. When will people focus on the other half ? Things like human diet and wasteful agriculture ? I'm 76 and know we can do this ! Big Ag is the problem too. Let's wake up.

[@peteraernouts5741]

Yeah solar in Texas there just got 1000 acre solar farm destroyed by hail I hope it won't be the last so it teach you a lesson.

[@swiftlytiltingplanet8481]

Yes, and the Gulf oil spill regurgitated 130 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and closed hundreds of square miles of fisheries. It caused the largest dolphin die-off in history, and the deaths of over 167000 sea turtles. 800,000 coastal birds and 200,000 offshore birds perished, along with an estimated 2 and 5 trillion fish. The financial cost to British Petroleum? $65 billion. An estimated 3.6 million people die prematurely from fossil fuel pollution. When you measure the pros and cons of renewable energy, be sure to weigh them against the pros and cons of fossil fuels.

[@aliendroneservices6621]

​@@swiftlytiltingplanet8481Solar doesn't replace fossil-fuels. Solar *_requires_* fossil-fuels.

[@peteraernouts5741]

@@aliendroneservices6621 I know your right

[@colleengray1310]

Yes, we have to keep it simple

[@ecocentrichomestead6783]

Dropped the price of renewable energies..... Last I checked, the pricing of all components have gone up!

[@aliendroneservices6621]

And, on a sustained basis, wind and solar are infinitely-expensive.

[@edtremblay6694]

I've known about the concept of terraforming the climate of a planet since the early 80's. This is pretty much what humans have done to earth over the last 200 years. The last 50 years has been the hardest on the planet due to this increase in population and the modern industrial complex. Essentially...progress and financial gain of the billionaire society and corporate culture of the rulers of our planet. These entities call the shots unfortunately,and this is why we are now in this climate catastrophe. Speaking of catastrophe, 2024 is the year our climate has a serious tipping point across the board. The worst tipping point on that board is the melting permafrost in the northern hemisphere and the release of the methane hydrates on the bottom of the Eastern Siberian shelf. Permafrost melting releases methane and carbon dioxide which are terraforming gasses such as water vapor. I really can't foresee the climate repairing itself anytime before our planet hits more tipping points. The only thing that will help would be the Atlantic Merdinol Overturning Circulation slowing down and cooling the planet a bit. There are so many tipping points in this climate crisis that there is a very good chance we have reached numerous tipping points already and seem to me we are in DENIAL. 420 Parts per million carbon dioxide and increasing is insane. Like I said earlier... terraform the planets climate or as everyone calls it climate change. It's not nearly a shocking as terraforming. Oh, it's just climate change, nothing to worry about. Let's just limit warming to 1.5 Celsius and everything will work it's self out. 1.5 degrees is an INSANE number when it comes to the climate. .3 of a degree is what should have been set instead of 1.5 degrees. We have passed the 1.5 degrees long time ago because the artic has warmed by at least 5 times as much. Think about that for 2 seconds...shocking isn't it! It is to me and I'm not even a scientist. Speaking of scientist...has any of the scientist or really smart people out there ever thought the ice melting on the polar ice caps and Greenland wouldn't some how change the rotation of the earth on it's axis because the mass of the is isn't there anymore and is distributed in the earths oceans. Physics says there's gonna be a change in the tilt. I'm still trying to figure that one out yet. I think all of you are awesome thinkers and such I very much your time and energy devoted to all this. Please take the time to think about what I've said and try to think about how we can actually save our planet. Electric vehicles and carbon capture isn't going to work . A totally different society which only wanted to save the planet would work. Unfortunately that's science fiction.

[@user-dm3ok7rf6l]

The TV channels in the USA do not talk about Global Warming in any meaningful way as yet. MEER Reflection Framework and yesterday would have been good to start.

[@nsbd90now]

So... seriously... not just for cuteness and cheap upvotes, but I definitely think these videos should always have an appearance by peoples' pets such as Newton the dog just to balance things out a bit.

[@heidibrault1313]

Perhaps the next time we record a program...I'll let Paul know!

[@earthsystem]

This is another of the AI bots loose on KZbin making “friendly” suggestions on how to improve your video.

[@ppetal1]

Carole King! Made my day.

[@cdineaglecollapsecenter4672]

As I understand it, the use of electricity for computer server centers is outrunning our ability to install renewable electricity. It is here in Colorado. Without some kind of mechanism to make energy more expensive, we won't stop this train before we get to the washed-out bridge.

[@juskahusk2247]

They also use a huge amount of water for cooling. Unfortunately civilization is now dependant on the internet which is dependant on data centers. A minor water shortage could be incredibly destructive to the modern world.

[@5353Jumper]

Datacenter electricity use is a FUD campaign sponsored by the opponents of "green" alternatives. If we think of how central cloud applications have become in our life, and include Crypto Currency and such it is amazing that it only uses 1-2% of global electricity. How much more energy efficient do data centers make us? Less transportation, centralized information, collaboration, entertainment. The applications hosted in data centers massively reduce our energy and electricity consumption. Also the centralization of the computer power reduces production of on premises servers, PCs and other technology devices. It is industry and transportation trying to create negativity in your mind crying about data centers. To distract you from how much we can improve/reduce transportation and industrial process with actual changes that matter. Data centers already have a pure cost justification to becoming as energy efficient as possible. There are a lot more inefficient industries to improve. The world has a lot bigger problems to worry about and invest in alternatives before we start caring about data centers.

[@cdub9923]

Economic growth will rely on AI. AI relies on compute power. Computer power requires energy. By Jevon’s paradox (look it up) as the efficiency of compute continues to increase, the net use of energy to perform compute will increase. As renewables improve efficiency of energy production, it will make compute more widespread and lower cost. Even if renewables completely replace fossil fuels, we are only can-kicking the problem by perhaps a few decades. The burning of carbon may be replaced by renewables, but the renewables themselves will grow also in their ecological footprint. Its near term overshoot with fossil fuels, and slightly less (on geological time scales) overshoot with renewables too. We cannot continue to grow forever. Our place within the biophysical limits of the ecological carrying capacity of the earth will need to be managed.

[@nsbd90now]

As I read about the astounding energy demands of simple AI that we have now, not to mention what actual AGI would need... I can totally see us as being at something like a "Great Filter" of The Fermi Paradox. AI/AGI never even goes live, much less interstellar because of energy limits.

[@radman1136]

What a great euphemism. There is no train. No washed out bridge. Civilization is going to break down, billions of human beings will die, most from starvation, which is a bad way to go.

[@margrietoregan828]

Overpopulation is the problem. So we’re now totally dammed if we do, dammed if we don’t. If we manage to somehow stabilise warming to a liveable level, ppl will just churn out more babies …… & our demands on the planet will increase accordingly, with its accompanying destruction & degradation. And because there’s already too many of us anyway …. BY FAR …. so it’s also already too late. For one thing our oceans are already more than hot enough to melt Greenland’s ice sheet ….. just check out the latest reports. It’ll soon be gone … maybe only months away …. The PowersThatBe know all this so knowing that it’s already too late, they ignore it all…. they know there’s nothing we can do …. & that soon enough there will be rioting in the streets with all of us running each other through with pitch forks,……or guns if you live in the US of A …… Patriarchy is the problem - remember “God” not only told Adam to go forth & subdue the earth & have dominion over every living thing (& Eve - the Mother of All Living), but “He” also promised Abraham that his descendants would be like the sands of the sea…. Before patriarchy we lived in maternal clans ….. women know how stupid & self defeating it is to produce too many children in any significant excess above the carrying capacity of the species’ evolutionarily normal socio-ecological milieu ….. Big mistake …..Agriculture was patriarchy’s first stupidity - clearing trillions of trees ….

[@guiart4728]

Hopium for sale here! Come and get it! Wish fervently that I am wrong….but humans do what humans do….

[@miguel5785]

I think we still have to figure out how to electrify industrial heat and transport, but sure, we can make a big dent in GHG emissions with a lot more solar and wind. Thanks for bringing to us the example and encouragement of McKibben. Much needed and much appreciated.

[@earthsystem]

Do what I did and follow the department of energy, KZbin channel. I was astonished by the number of seed grants, optimizing, energy at existing installations, an large scale green energy conversions, are taking place in America.

[@margrietoregan828]

Treacherous Hopium …

[@johnkintree763]

Should iron particles be scattered on the oceans to promote growth of phytoplankton to extract CO2 from the atmosphere? Validated information about this can be stored in data centers, and made accessible worldwide through conversational digital agents in our smartphones. Those digital agents can then represent the collective will of humanity about it, and other proposed solutions.

[@rickclifford1964]

Not iron filings, volcanic dust. It provides more nutrients and is more of a natural solution. Sir David King is already working on the details. We also need more whales to circulate nutrients throughout the oceans.

[@elfboi523]

I think chatbots like ChatGPT are mostly useless toys which use far too much power to justify the cute little tricks they can do.

[@thec0mmnmann822]

Damm the torpedos. Full speed ahead.

[@user-co7qs7yq7n]

- We live in the same climate as it was 5 million years ago - I have an explanation regarding the cause of the climate change, it is the travel of the universe to the deep past since May 10, 2010. Each day starting May 10, 2010 takes us one thousand years to the past of the universe. Today April 01, 2024 the state of our universe is the same as it was 5 million and 75 thousand years ago. On october 13, 2026 the state of our universe will be at the point 6 million years in the past. On june 04, 2051 the state of our universe will be at the point 15 million in the past. On june 28, 2092 the state of our universe will be at the point 30 million years in the past. On april 02, 2147 the state of our universe will be at the point 50 million years in the past. Mohamed BOUHAMIDA.

[@endlessadventure541]

How much does the heat of the bombs being dropped on Gaza and Ukraine add to warming?

[@5353Jumper]

Nearly zero, impossible to measure because it is so small. The fuel burned, war production, and social delay to change is a lot more important than the heat of bombs.

[@duanecarroll8255]

The bombs can be compared to throwing lit matches into a swimming pool, expecting to boil the water.

[@jerrylyns7331]

“Mine things or whatever”???????!

[@pubguc6771]

0:07

[@cfarinho]

But. Isn't the fossil fuel industry owned the same financial interests as the renewables?

[@itsgottobesaid4269]

Yes

[@jonahsmith9994]

But gas fired power plants ...

[@markschuette3770]

we really need the government to put some $ into education people on the Climate Change (and the 6th great extinction) issue! then tax all forms of Pollution. this society/capitalism is based upon economics thus taxes is the way/tool we manage most everything with. and tax the rich since they got rich on the publics natural resourese.

[@donniemoder1466]

The nursing home lecture circuit is such a proven platform for change. After all, the people who went to Woodstock now populate the nursing homes.

[@earthsystem]

. CONTEMPT of elders is a capitalist technique to prevent citizenry from uniting. Elder Contempt divide/and/conquers resistance to the machine.

[@leskuzyk2425]

or ... add to that list of three ... a fourth, really high tech ... insulation, like when you put a coat on in cold weather ... yeah

[@larrybutler8794]

China, India Malaysia !

[@davidaemayhew]

Why does some Billionaire not buy up and save the Amazon?

[@aliendroneservices6621]

Because it isn't threatened.

[@helenhenthorn4948]

We need to link the pro-Palestinian movement with the stop endless war and anti-imperialism and spend military monies on society which leads naturally to the climate since war is so devastating to the climate prospects. The pro-Palestinian movement has a large contingent of the young and vibrant who has the most at stake in climate.