‘The reason that the big UN conferences like Copenhagen and Rio+20 consistently fail has to do with the power of the gas and oil companies.’ Bill McKibben, the most influential journalist in the USA in the field of sustainability, is the author of the very first book on climate change written for a major audience: ‘The End of Nature’ in 1989. Today, he is engaged in a fight against the fossil fuel industry and has initiated a worldwide movement based on new currencies: passion, spirit, creativity and numbers. ‘If it means spending a couple of days in prison, so be it.’ Watch the abridged version of the interview with Bill McKibben here.
Bill’s message to young people:
‘Don’t spend all your time thinking of yourself as young people. Just think of yourself as people, politically powerful actors. Don’t allow yourself to be patrionalized, going off to conferences and go to Youthday and get petted on the head, you know, or whatever. Do what you have to do to take charge of those things, including if that means unruly. I always tell the young people I work closely with that they are not young people. They are incredibly gifted political actors and that is true, potentially, of millions of people around the world. Don’t feel powerless. Go out and make power yourself. Not easy, scary sometimes. Worth a try.’
