Bill McKibben

“The Sacred Balance has a beautiful spirit.”—E. O. WilsonWith a new foreword from Robin Wall Kimmerer, New York Times-bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass—and an afterword from Bill McKibben—this special 25th anniversary edition of a beloved bestseller invites readers to see ourselves as part of nature, not separate. The world is changing at a relentless pace. How can we slow down and act from a place of respect for all living things? The Sacred Balance shows us how. In this extensively updated new edition, David Suzuki reflects on the increasingly radical changes in science and nature—from the climate crisis to peak oil and the rise in clean energy—and examines what they mean for humankind. He also reflects on what we have learned by listening to Indigenous leaders, whose knowledge of the natural world is profound, and whose peoples are on the frontlines of protecting land and water around the world. Drawing on his own experiences and those of others who have put their beliefs into action, The Sacred Balance combines science, philosophy, spirituality, and Indigenous knowledge to offer concrete suggestions for creating an ecologically sustainable future by rediscovering and addressing humanity’s basic needs. Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute

A look at Vermont's wonders from an abstract, aerial perspective, combining striking drone images with journalistic observations, from New York Times contributor Caleb Kenna. Caleb Kenna's vertiginous views of Vermont invite a new way of looking at the Green Mountain State. These stunningly abstract drone images reveal hidden patterns and are rich with detail, color, shadow, and mood. Tractor tracks on a field in Weybridge; fresh snowfall on an apple orchard in Cornwall; the swirling Nulhegan River in Brunswick. The 130 color photographs, most of them taken around the Champlain Valley, were inspired by Alfred Stieglitz's Equivalent series and the work of his protege, Minor White. They invite us on a journey of excitement and discovery, one that Kenna has described as a daily practice and a form of meditation.

We know that eating animals is bad for the planet and bad for our health, and yet we do it anyway. We’ve all heard the statistics: animal agriculture is responsible for at least 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions; we need to drop our meat consumption by 50 percent simply to feed the world’s estimated 10 billion people in 2050; a full third of the Earth’s arable land is devoted to growing crops for livestock; approximately 80 percent of deforested land in the Amazon is used solely for rearing livestock. Ask anyone in the plant-based movement and the solution seems obvious: Stop eating meat. But for many people, that stark solution is neither appealing nor practical. In Meat Me Halfway, author and founder of the reducetarian movement Brian Kateman puts forth a realistic and balanced goal: mindfully reduce your meat consumption. It might seem strange for a leader of the plant-based movement to say, but meat is here to stay. The question is not how to ween society off meat, but how to make meat more healthy, more humane, and more sustainable. In this book, Kateman answers the question that has plagued vegans for years: why are we so resistant to changing the way we eat, and what can we do about it? Exploring our historical relationship with meat, from the domestication of animals, to the early industrialization of meatpacking, to the advent of the one-stop grocery store, the science of taste, and the laws that impact our access to food, Meat Me Halfway reveals how humans have evolved as meat eaters. Featuring interviews with pioneers in the science of meat alternatives, investigations into new types of farming designed to lessen environmental impact, and innovations in ethical and sustainable agriculture, this down-to-Earth book shows that we all can change the way we create and consume food.

One of the New Yorker's Best Books of 2022 Bill McKibben--award-winning author, activist, educator--is fiercely curious. "I'm curious about what went so suddenly sour with American patriotism, American faith, and American prosperity." Like so many of us, McKibben grew up believing--knowing--that the United States was the greatest country on earth. As a teenager, he cheerfully led American Revolution tours in Lexington, Massachusetts. He sang "Kumbaya" at church. And with the remarkable rise of suburbia, he assumed that all Americans would share in the wealth. But fifty years later, he finds himself in an increasingly doubtful nation strained by bleak racial and economic inequality, on a planet whose future is in peril. And he is curious: What the hell happened? In this revelatory cri de coeur, McKibben digs deep into our history (and his own well-meaning but not all-seeing past) and into the latest scholarship on race and inequality in America, on the rise of the religious right, and on our environmental crisis to explain how we got to this point. He finds that he is not without hope. And he wonders if any of that trinity of his youth--The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon--could, or should, be reclaimed in the fight for a fairer future.

From environmentalist and bestselling author Bill McKibben comes a hopeful, inspiring picture book celebrating the power of human cooperation and the beauty of life on Earth, beautifully illustrated by artist Stevie Lewis. When we work together, we humans can do incredible things. We share the responsibility to address climate change and our changing planet. It is critical that we act collectively to protect our beautiful, fragile world. Renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben and the incredibly talented artist Stevie Lewis team up to bring this gorgeous picture book to life. Celebrating the amazing things people can do, it's an inspiring message of hope.

One of the earliest warnings about climate change and one of environmentalism's lodestars'Nature, we believe, takes forever. It moves with infinite slowness,' begins the first book to bring climate change to public attention. Interweaving lyrical observations from his life in the Adirondack Mountains with insights from the emerging science, Bill McKibben sets out the central developments not only of the environmental crisis now facing us but also the terms of our response, from policy to the fundamental, philosophical shift in our relationship with the natural world which, he argues, could save us. A moving elegy to nature in its pristine, pre-human wildness, The End of Nature is both a milestone in environmental thought, indispensable to understanding how we arrived here.

We tend to think of silence as the absence of sound, but it is actually the void where we can hear the sublime notes of nature. Here, photographer Pete McBride reveals the wonders of these hushed places in spectacular imagery from the thin-air flanks of Mount Everest to the depths of the Grand Canyon, from the high-altitude vistas of the Atacama to the African savannah, and from the Antarctic Peninsula to the flowing waters of the Ganges and Nile. These places remind us of the magic of being truly away and how such places are vanishing. Often showing beauty from vantages where no other photographer has ever stood, this is a seven-continent visual tour of global quietude and the power in nature s own sounds that will both inspire and calm.

In pursuit of economic growth, the United States and other developed countries are testing the tolerance of the natural world. The results include the loss of valuable ecosystems, global climate change and the degradation of the planet's ability to support life. Journalist William Becker argues that our mission in the 21st century should be to fix what we have broken in the natural world and to enlist healthy ecosystems in our pursuit of economic and physical security. Becker begins by sounding an alarm about the inability of the dams and levees we built over the last century to handle the severity of sea-level rise and record floods we see today. It's time, he suggests, to give floodplains back to rivers.

In twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement. An Idea Can Go Extinct is Bill McKibben's impassioned, groundbreaking account of how, by changing the earth's entire atmosphere, the weather and the most basic forces around us, 'we are ending nature.'Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.

If our planet is going to survive the climate crisis, we need to act rapidly. Taking cues from progressive cities around the world, including Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Oslo, Shenzhen, and Sydney, this book is a summons to every city to make small but significant changes that can drastically reduce our carbon footprint. We cannot wait for national governments to agree on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and manage the average temperature rise to within 1.5 degrees. In Solved, David Miller argues that cities are taking action on climate change because they can – and because they must. Miller makes a clear-eyed and compelling case that, if replicated at pace and scale, the actions of leading global cities point the way to creating a more sustainable planet. Solved: How the World’s Great Cities Are Fixing the Climate Crisis demonstrates that the initiatives cities have taken to control the climate crisis can make a real difference in reducing global emissions if implemented worldwide. By chronicling the stories of how cities have taken action to meet and exceed emissions targets laid out in the Paris Agreement, Miller empowers readers to fix the climate crisis. As much a "how to" guide for policymakers as a work for concerned citizens, Solved aims to inspire hope through its clear and factual analysis of what can be done – now, today – to mitigate our harmful emissions and pave the way to a 1.5-degree world.

Hvad gør vi, konfronteret med menneskehedens største krise? For 30 år siden skrev aktivist og forfatter Bill McKibben The End of Nature, den første bog som advarede om den globale opvarmning. Et kapløb med tiden er et nyt forsøg på at styrke indsatsen for at redde planeten og os, der bebor den. Gennem årtusinder har mennesket tæmmet naturen, udviklet teknologi og skabt den verden, vi lever i. Men vi nærmer os et vendepunkt, der sætter spørgsmålstegn ved selve menneskehedens bæredygtighed. Naturen har desværre vist sig meget mere foranderlig, end vi først troede, og de menneskelige samfund har vist sig langt mindre i stand til at omstille sig, end man kunne håbe. Spørgsmålet er nu: kan vi forandre os, før naturen har afgjort det hele for os? Bill McKibben er amerikansk forfatter og journalist, og en af klimakampens fremmeste miljøforkæmpere gennem fire årtier. Hans bog The End of Nature fra 1989 har i dag opnået klassikerstatus indenfor klimalitteraturen og er oversat til mere end 24 sprog. Han er medstifter af den globale græsrodsbevægelse 350.org, som har organiseret mere end 20.000 klimademonstrationer verden over. Han har skrevet for The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books og Rolling Stone. I 2014 blev han tildelt The Right Livelihood Award – også kaldet “den alternative Nobel-pris”. ANMDELDELSER: ”En stærk bog, fordi den forklarer, hvad der er på spil, og hvor meget der skal til.” – Rune Lykkeberg, Information “Dette er Bill McKibben når han er bedst. Hver eneste linje er klog og advarende. Gå ikke glip af den” - Naomi Klein “Ingen har lagt en større indsats i at højne bevidstheden om vores tids største udfordring end Bill McKibben. En essentiel bog – ærlig, vidtrækkende og, imod alle odds, håbefuld.” – Elizabeth Kolbert, forfatter

Wrenched from the Land features sixteen interviews with some of the most iconic eco-warriors to put themselves on the line for their beliefs. The activists featured in this book are inspired by the late Edward Abbey, one of America's uncompromising and irascible defenders of wilderness. The book includes interviews with Terry Tempest Williams, the late Charles Bowden, Sea Shepherd Society founder Paul Watson, Jack Loeffler, Doug Peacock, Ingrid Eisenstadter, John De Puy, Bob Lippman, Derrick Jensen, Shonto Begay, Ken Sanders, Ken Sleight, the late Katie Lee, Executive Director of the Center for Biological Diversity Kieran Suckling, Earth First! cofounder Dave Foreman, and climate activist Tim DeChristopher. Some were among Abbey's closest friends and were the inspiration for his irreverent comedic masterpiece, The Monkey Wrench Gang. Here are mesmerizing stories about how they adapted Abbey's monkeywrenching ideas into a radical blueprint for direct action. Their achievements--as ingenious and fierce as the individuals in this book--will encourage readers to discover their own pathways toward positive change.

'This is Bill McKibben at his glorious best. Wise and warning, with everything on the line. Do not miss it' Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything and The Shock DoctrineThirty years ago, Bill McKibben wrote The End of Nature, the first book that alerted us to the dangers of climate change. Falter is a new call to arms, to save not only our planet but our very souls as well. Over tens of thousands of years, through the harnessing of nature, the development of civilization, and the application of new technologies, human beings have created the world we live in. But as McKibben points out in this provocative and sobering look at the world today, we are fast approaching a tipping point, putting into question the viability of humanity itself. McKibben argues that we have failed to recognize how individual actions often operated against our collective interest, and as a result we now face three daunting challenges - to adjust to a new life on a broken planet, to fight the hyper-individualism that now animates government and business; and to reverse the ways that technology is bleaching out the variety of human existence. He asks if we still retain the tools and social capital to fight these larger forces - and if we are willing to make the effort.

Thirty years ago Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about climate change. Now he broadens the warning: the entire human game, he suggests, has begun to play itself out. Bill McKibben's groundbreaking book The End of Nature -- issued in dozens of languages and long regarded as a classic -- was the first book to alert us to global warming. But the danger is broader than that: even as climate change shrinks the space where our civilization can exist, new technologies like artificial intelligence and robotics threaten to bleach away the variety of human experience. Falter tells the story of these converging trends and of the ideological fervor that keeps us from bringing them under control. And then, drawing on McKibben's experience in building 350.org, the first truly global citizens movement to combat climate change, it offers some possible ways out of the trap. We're at a bleak moment in human history -- and we'll either confront that bleakness or watch the civilization our forebears built slip away. Falter is a powerful and sobering call to arms, to save not only our planet but also our humanity.

While Glaciers Slept weaves together the parallel stories of what happens when the climates of a family and a planet change. Dr. M Jackson reveals how these events are deeply intertwined, and how the deterioration of her parents’ health was as devastating as the inexorable changing of Earth’s climate. Nonetheless, the book shows that even in the darkest of times we cannot lose hope. Dr. Jackson guides us to solar, wind, and geothermal solutions, bringing us along on her expeditions to research climate change and to educate people about how to stop it. Scientists are continually looking for better ways to translate hard science into human language and that is precisely what this book does. Climate change, she convinces us, is not just about science—it is also about the audacity of human courage and imagination.

Now available in English for the first time, Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess's meditation on the art of living is an exhortation to preserve the environment and biodiversity. As Naess approaches his ninetieth year, he offers a bright and bold perspective on the power of feelings to move us away from ecological and cultural degradation toward sound, future-focused policy and action. Naess acknowledges the powerlessness of the intellect without the heart, and, like Thoreau before him, he rejects the Cartesian notion of mind-body separation. He advocates instead for the integration of reason and emotion—a combination Naess believes will inspire us to make changes for the better. Playful and serious, this is a guidebook for finding our way on a planet wrecked by the harmful effects of consumption, population growth, commodification, technology, and globalization. It is sure to mobilize today's philosophers, environmentalists, policy makers, and the general public into seeking—with whole hearts rather than with superficial motives—more effective and timelier solutions. Naess's style is reflective and anecdotal as he shares stories and details from his rich and long life. With characteristic goodwill, wit, and wisdom, he denounces our unsustainable actions while simultaneously demonstrating the unsurpassed wonder, beauty, and possibility our world offers, and ultimately shows us that there is always reason for hope, that everyone is a potential ally in our fight for the future.

"I hope no one secedes, but I also hope that Americans figure out creative ways to resist injustice and create communities where everybody counts. We've got a long history of resistance in Vermont and this book is testimony to that fact." -Bernie Sanders A book that's also the beginning of a movement, Bill McKibben's debut novel Radio Free Vermont follows a band of Vermont patriots who decide that their state might be better off as its own republic. As the host of Radio Free Vermont--"underground, underpowered, and underfoot"--seventy-two-year-old Vern Barclay is currently broadcasting from an "undisclosed and double-secret location." With the help of a young computer prodigy named Perry Alterson, Vern uses his radio show to advocate for a simple yet radical idea: an independent Vermont, one where the state secedes from the United States and operates under a free local economy. But for now, he and his radio show must remain untraceable, because in addition to being a lifelong Vermonter and concerned citizen, Vern Barclay is also a fugitive from the law. In Radio Free Vermont, Bill McKibben entertains and expands upon an idea that's become more popular than ever--seceding from the United States. Along with Vern and Perry, McKibben imagines an eccentric group of activists who carry out their own version of guerilla warfare, which includes dismissing local middle school children early in honor of 'Ethan Allen Day' and hijacking a Coors Light truck and replacing the stock with local brew. Witty, biting, and terrifyingly timely, Radio Free Vermont is Bill McKibben's fictional response to the burgeoning resistance movement.

The Wisdom of John Muir marries the best aspects of a Muir anthology with the best aspects of a Muir biography. The fact that it is neither, and yet it is both, distinguishes this book from the many extant books on John Muir. Building on her lifelong passion for the work and philosophy of John Muir, author Anne Rowthorn has created this entirely new treatment for showcasing the great naturalist's philosophy and writings. By pairing carefully selected material from various stages of Muir's life, Rowthorn's book provides a view into the experiences, places, and people that inspired and informed Muir's words and beliefs. The reader feels able to join in with Muir's own discoveries and transformations over the arc of his life. Rowthorn is careful not to overstep her role: she stands back and lets Muir's words speak for themselves.

Global warming, fracking, privacy, election fraud--the first book by Emmy Award winning director of Gasland tells his intimate and damning story of our world in crisis. With an introduction by Bill McKibben. The rules have changed. The water has changed. The climate has changed. The truth has changed. We must change. The Truth Has Changed captures the rapid-fire shocks that are changing the fabric of our lives--from 9/11 and the Iraq war, to fracking and the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, to Hurricane Sandy, to relentless smear campaigns against climate scientists, to the fight for 100% renewable energy, to Standing Rock, to the 2016 presidential campaign, to Cambridge Analytica. Our normal isn't normal anymore. The paradigm shift that global warming represents parallels a paradigm shift in how we process truth. Both deeply affect democracy. Josh Fox has had a front row seat--a first responder after 9/11, filming Deepwater close up from the air and on the ground, a member of the Bernie Sanders' delegation of the Democratic Platform Committee, risking his life to cross a bridge on Thanksgiving Day at Standing Rock, traveling around the country, shooting his films, talking to people everywhere he goes. Josh's live one-man show, also called "The Truth Has Changed," has been in development with HBO with a debut at New York City's Town Hall on September 11 and 12, 2018, and then broadcast and turned into a film, and taken on an extended national tour. Josh's film Gasland, a documentary on fracking, was nominated for an Academy Award, won an Emmy, captured the documentary top prize at Sundance, and educated the nation and the world on the threat to our water supply and our lives that fracking represents. Josh's short videos have been viewed over 60 million times. The Truth Has Changed is his first book, and it's beautiful.

"Relax," writes author Mary DeMocker, "this isn't another light bulb list. It's not another overwhelming pile of parental 'to dos' designed to shrink your family's carbon footprint through eco-superheroism." Instead, DeMocker lays out a lively, empowering, and doable blueprint for engaging families in the urgent endeavor of climate revolution. In this book's brief, action-packed chapters, you'll learn hundreds of wide-ranging ideas for being part of the revolution -- from embracing simplicity parenting, to freeing yourself from dead-end science debates, to teaching kids about the power of creative protest, to changing your lifestyle in ways that deepen family bonds, improve moods, and reduce your impact on the Earth. Engaging and creative, this vital resource is for everyone who wants to act effectively -- and empower children to do the same.