Bill McKIbben: Through the Smoke

Deepest respect and gratitude, as always, to Bill McKibben for his tireless fight to bring us the truth and inspire us to come together to save ourselves and our planet. Hopefully each and every day more and more of us are being shaken awake out of our denial and doubts and apathy about the ever-increasing catastrophic impacts of fossil fuels and the human caused warming of our planet. Bill McKibben first warned us in 1989 book The End of Nature. For decades we have been warned by countless people who absolutely could see what was coming and what is here now. May we listen. Please. — Molly

New York City on May 3, 2023

New York City on June 7, 2023

Through the Smoke

Here in Vermont the sun is dull orange viewed through the shroud of smoke, and it smells like a campfire; I’ve heard from friends in New York and DC describing emergency rooms filling up with asthmatic kids who can’t breathe. It’s truly terrible, but in one limited way it’s also a gift:  there’s more economic and political power concentrated in the northeast U.S. than perhaps any place on earth.

And today those power centers are experiencing what a huge percentage of the world experiences every day.  We know that one death in five on this earth comes from people breathing the combustion byproducts of fossil fuel; that tightness in your lungs is daily life in Delhi and Lahore and a thousand Chinese cities whose names we barely recognize.

And today those power centers are experiencing what a huge percentage of the world experiences every day.  We know that one death in five on this earth comes from people breathing the combustion byproducts of fossil fuel; that tightness in your lungs is daily life in Delhi and Lahore and a thousand Chinese cities whose names we barely recognize.

So—a few things for today

1. Take care of yourself, and your grandkids. Old lungs and young lungs have the very hardest time with this kind of smoke; the same mask that guards against covid may be a help scrubbing out some of the particulates in the air.
2. Remember what it feels like, so that you’ll have even more empathy for the people in the rest of the world going forward
3. Double down in the fight against the burning of fossil fuels. It’s a good day to stay inside and write once again to, say, the CEO of Citibank (jane.fraser@citi.com), her chief of staff (margo.pilic@citi.com), and maybe the Chief Sustainability Officer (val.smith@citi.com) for good measure. They are breathing this air too, and it might be a moment for connection. Just say “it’s time to stop funding the expansion of fossil fuel. So that we can all breathe a sigh of relief.”

Oh, and while you’re writing, here’s a little something from the Platters to keep you company.

Bill McKibben

[https://thirdact.org/blog/through-the-smoke/]

Photo Credit: Mike Lewelling, National Park Service