Bill McKibben: Climate, weather & politics

Hour 1

Vast swaths of Russian forests are aflame in wildfires. The United Nations humanitarian relief office says the destruction wrought by Pakistan floods are worse than the 2005 earthquakes in  Pakistan, January’s earthquake in Haiti and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami … combined. Large ice sheets continue to cleave off of glaciers at the poles and Greenland, while disappearing from the Himalayas and elsewhere. All jibe with predictions offered by scientists tracking and forecasting global climate change. But around the world, climate change action suffered setbacks this year, with disappointment at the December conference in Copenhagen and Senate Democrats abandoning a climate bill. Joining Marty to talk about all this and more is author and activist BILL McKIBBEN, whose  1989 book, The End of Nature, is credited with being the first book about climate change & global warming to reach a wide audience. In the ensuing decades, McKibben has become one of the world’s leading environmentalists, and his work continues: He founded the group 350.org to raise awareness and rally for action to address climate change, and led 5,200 simultaneous demonstrations in 181 countries. He joins us today to talk about the intersection of weather, politics and climate change.

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[audio: 082310_100630.mp3]