Bill McKibben Profile Banner
Bill McKibben Profile
Bill McKibben

@billmckibben

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Author, Educator, Environmentalist and founder of and . Opinions all my own, and expressed at greater length at

Vermont
Joined February 2009
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
1 year
I've had a like/hate relationship with Twitter, but it feels as if one of those emotions is growing stronger. So I'm glad that I have a Substack project, free for all to read (and very glad that some people pay the modest, voluntary fee to keep it going)
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
Are you kidding me? The #ClimateStrike scene in Freiburg Germany
@F4F_Freiburg
FFF Freiburg - 15.09.!
5 years
Like the sea we rise! Liebes Klimakabinett, ihr habt euch mit den falschen angelegt... #AlleFuersKlima #FridaysForFuture
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
If I were Putin, I'd be a little worried that Trump thinks my invasion plan is "genius."
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
An important moment: Christianity Today, the key evangelical magazine founded by Billy Graham, calls for Trump's impeachment, describing him as "a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused."
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
6 years
I've never CAPSLOCKED before, but IRELAND JUST VOTED TO BECOME THE FIRST NATION ON EARTH TO FULLY DIVEST FROM FOSSIL FUELS. It's a fine day, begorra!
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
3 years
That we continue to cut old growth forests, legally, in 2021 is crazy-making
@mattdellok
Matt Dell
3 years
😢 Huge tree hauled down Vancouver Island today. Wow. #bcpoli
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
Here's the captain of the Harvard football team saluting the students and alumni who disrupted the year's big game. He's a real leader and he and his teammates deserve everyone's gratitude
@DivestHarvard
Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard 🔶
4 years
Statement from Wesley Ogsbury, captain of the Harvard Crimson, on today's #NobodyWins disruption by us and @FossilFreeYale :
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
Since the oil industry is running out of places to store their unwanted product...perhaps we should just keep it in the ground. Forever.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
3 years
An utterly crushing day for Big Oil 1) Chevron investors demand emission cuts 2) Dutch court tells Shell to cut emissions by half 3) Exxon shareholders buck the company and elect directors demanding climate action. Thanks to all who fight--you push long enough and dominoes tumble
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
Manchin has taken more money from the fossil fuel industry than anyone else in DC And the return on that investment has been enormous. Big Oil got its money worth a thousand times over.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
7 years
1) Irma at 190 mph 2) Harvey at 54 " of rain 3) West ablaze 4) Record California heat 5) Donald Trump talking at an oil refinery
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
European satellite agency concludes that June was the hottest month ever recorded on earth, our planet.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
6 years
Good golly! A few minutes ago a Boston judge acquitted 13 pipeline protesters on the grounds that the climate crisis made it necessary for them to commit civil disobedience. This may be a first in America. Details to follow, and go to @ClimateDisobey for some live video
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
7 years
As we helplessly watch Florida suffer today, remember that the the fossil fuel companies knew all about climate change in 1980s. And lied.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
Justice Kagan, in dissent: "The Court appoints itself—instead of Congress or the expert agency—the decisionmaker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening."
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
3 years
Um, Fox News says 70% of voters want the government spending more on green energy. I think we might be winning the messaging battle on this one.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
6 years
Probably just ran out of space, but you forgot "break the political power of the fossil fuel industry."
@CNN
CNN
6 years
Scared by that new report on climate change? Here's what you can do to help: • Eat less meat (about 30%) • Swap your car or plane ride for a bus or train • Use a smart thermostat in your home, and upgrade to more efficient appliances More:
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
7 years
When scientists protest, their picket signs have footnotes #standupforscience
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
10 months
The temperature in China hit 126 degrees F today (52.2 C.) That beats the old record by an almost inconceivable 3 F. The world is on fire.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
As my wife said at dinner, Trump shot 200,000 people on Fifth Avenue, and now we'll see if he gets away with it.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
This is big news. The world's biggest shipping firm pledges to cut carbon emissions to zero. CEO says "We will have to abandon fossil fuels."
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Bill McKibben
7 years
Wow. Donald Trump should have scheduled his inauguration for today. There seem to be a lot more people in town
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
1) Russia can only afford to fight because of its oil and gas 2) Russia's main weapon against Europe is its threat to cut off oil and gas 3) So it might be wise to stop using oil and gas now that we have workable alternatives 4) (Also saves the planet)
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
Joe Manchin preserves Congress's perfect record: no real climate legislation in the 33 years they've been debating the issue.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
Watching the attacks on @GretaThunberg reminds me that industry and conservatives did just the same with Rachel Carson, the great environmental pioneer, in the 1960s. She was called a 'hysterical spinster.' Women have long been leading, and it's never been easy
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
Holy heck. The University of California system has just divested from fossil fuels. That's $80 billion, from what is the biggest and arguably best public system in the world. Thanks to all who have campaigned so long and hard--this is a breathtaking win!
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
Someone tell cable news: the sun appears to be providing energy at the same price as last week
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
New study: if we stop emissions immediately, Arctic still warms 5C/9F by century's end. We're not stopping global warming any more; we're fighting like hell for a level that civilizations might survive. #ClimateStrike
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
A reminder that the megaheatwave engulfing much of the world is happening during a La Nina "cool cycle." God help us when the next El Nino hits
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
7 years
They say LA is a car city, no one walks anywhere. #womensmarch
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
3 years
HARVARD JUST DIVESTED FROM FOSSIL FUELS. Because great activists never let up. They don't use the word 'divestment,' but they said they have no direct investments left, will make no new ones, and that their indirect investments are in 'runoff mode' and will be allowed to expire
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
3 years
Truly staggering win in New York this a.m.: the state will divest its $226 billion pension fund from fossil fuels. That's the biggest pension fund yet, it comes after a decade of great activism, and it underlines the weakening power of Big Oil
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
7 years
This is a graph of total global sea ice. The red line is this year. Something is very very wrong.
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Bill McKibben
5 years
Worth remembering that it was @BernieSanders who in 2016 debate was the first legit candidate to say that climate change was the greatest threat facing the world. Props to him for leading, and to others for figuring out he was right. That's how organizing is supposed to work.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
The heaviest rain ever measured in the history of Seoul, pop 25 million. This is what happens when you warm a planet
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
If we switched to renewable energy, the number of ships crossing the ocean would fall almost in half. Because they're just carrying coal and oil and gas
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
7 months
New York's old rainfall record stood for 150 years until 2021, and has now been broken three times. Hot air holds more water vapor than cold; flooding follows fossil fuel combustion as night follows day.
@sethchinnis
Seth Chinnis
7 months
Major flooding in Brooklyn today. Trains shut down and the only way out of the station is through this.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
These are Australians waiting on the beach to flee into the ocean if the fire keeps coming. It's the only 'safe' place they can find.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
3 years
When someone moans about $3.5 trillion spending over 10 years, perhaps remind them that the estimates for the cost of unchecked climate change top out at $551 trillion, which is more money than there is on earth at the moment.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
6 years
It's rude to say it at the moment, I guess, but perhaps worth remembering that the North Carolina legislature literally banned using the latest science on sea level rise for coastal planning
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
A remarkable picture in the Atlantic right now--5 cyclones spinning simultaneously
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
Reading the end of the NYT account of why German fatalities are so low is enough to make Americans weep
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
7 years
At midday today, California got 56.7% of its power from renewables, a new record.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
The pictures from Colorado tonight are like when the comet hits in #DontLookUp So look. Long and hard. And then get to work breaking the power of the fossil fuel industry
@SamBoik
Sam Boik
2 years
The winds will not stop. Entire neighborhoods up in flames. #marshallfire
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
34 years and 40 days ago, Jim Hansen broke the news of global warming to the U.S. Senate. Finally, today, they act It's late, it's deeply compromised, and it's also a great victory for all who have fought so long and hard. Such thanks to all of you, and on to the next battles
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
3 years
@govkristinoem Was under the impression you were a Christian. My bad.
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Bill McKibben
4 years
Thank you @AOC . This is one of the few vital lessons for everyone to understand--and the hardest for most politicians to take on board.
@AOC
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
4 years
Fracking is NOT a transitional fuel, and it is dangerous to say so. Fracking emits methane, which is about **84 TIMES** more powerful than CO2 in contributing to climate change for a generation. This is not a joke. We either commit to the science or not.
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Bill McKibben
5 years
The estimate is at least 70,000 on #ClimateStrike in beautiful Cologne, Germany. The numbers around the world are astonishing
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
Look at the massive, gorgeous crowd in Kampala Uganda for #ClimateStrike . The planet's running a fever and the antibodies are kicking in!
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
Let's don't bail out cruise ships. They are horrible employers, floating petri dishes, and they wreck local and global environments. It's one business the world will be better off without.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
The earth probably saw its highest temperature ever reliably recorded today: 130F (54.4C) in California. But it's not a record that will last.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
I'm no lawyer, but here's my take on last 24 hrs 1) Atlantic Coast pipeline: dead 2) DAPL pipeline: in huge trouble, unless Trump's donors can persuade a court to overrule 3) KXL pipeline: blocked for long enough that if Biden wins it's all over Such deep thanks to all who fight
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
6 years
Huge walkout from U.S.-sponsored panel at UN climate talks on the topic of why Coal is Great! Apparently no one left to listen...
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
White House can't be bothered rolling out test kits--but if a fracking baron who lost $2 billion yesterday wants a handout, it springs into action.
@JStein_WaPo
Jeff Stein
4 years
BREAKING: White House likely to push federal aid for shale companies hit by coronavirus/international energy shock Trump confidante & oil billionaire Harold Hamm lost $2 billion yesterday. Hamm reached out to admin but says he didnt make “direct" contact
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
Rand Paul going to the gym while waiting to find out his Covid test result is pretty much the working definition of libertarianism. Here's how Ayn Rand put it: "I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man."
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
6 years
One of the biggest days in 30 years of the climate fight: NYC announces it will divest giant pension fund and sue the oil companies for damages. Earth's mightiest city now in full-on fight with its richest, most irresponsible industry
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
6 months
Yesterday, temporarily, planet Earth took its first step over the 2.0 degrees Celsius barrier.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
It is all but impossible to get pictures out of lower Manhattan this afternoon--the crowd, which we're estimating at 300k minimum, has overwhelmed the cellphone networks. It is big, and it is beautiful #ClimateStrike
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
I literally wrote a book called "The End of Nature" and I still can't really wrap my head around yesterday's extinction report
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
AS @GretaThunberg gets off her sailboat: "I’m not traveling like this because I want everyone to do so, I’m doing this to send a message that it is impossible to live sustainably today & that needs to change. It needs to become much easier." @GretaThunberg is good at messaging
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
The longer I think about @DNC insisting no-one hold a climate debate, the sillier it seems. We've literally never talked about this issue in a presidential debate, and we literally have to deal with it immediately. I don't understand why we shouldn't devote a night to it
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
If you've been keeping your powder dry, waiting for the moment when the climate fight really needed you--right about now would be that moment
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
11 months
The truly terrifying news this week is not what happened deep beneath the sea, it's what's going on at the surface
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
Here's what the fire looks like in Vallejo California right now. The forces we've unleashed are beyond terrifying
@mulsirhc
Chris Lumanglas
5 years
Carquinez Bridge #Vallejo 🔥
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
Almost certainly the largest demonstration our planet has yet seen about climate change. (And on a weekday!) Thank you Canada.
@350
350 dot org
5 years
It’s official. 500,000 people came out into the streets of Montreal today to join the Global #ClimateStrike They’re part of the 6.6 million who took part all over the world. The momentum is on our side and we are not going anywhere. #FridaysForFuture
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Bill McKibben
9 months
Huge huge win, in Montana of all places, as a judge rules kids have a right to a safe climate. This state has more coal than any state in the country, and has never denied a fossil fuel permit--but change is coming!
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
Fascinating: Milan will reopen its streets by turning them over to bikes and pedestrians,not cars Deputy mayor: “Of course, we want to reopen the economy, but we think we should do it on a different basis from before."
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
If you're keeping track, planet earth had the hottest June ever recorded, the hottest July, the 2nd-hottest August, and now the hottest September. Please join the fight for a livable future
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
Basic IPCC formula, in order 1) build massive amounts of (now cheap) sun and wind 2) Electrify everything to run on it 3) Conservation and efficiency 4) Research the hell out of the last hard stuff (planes, cement, etc) 5) Stop cutting down trees for cows (or anything else)
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
7 years
Germany generating so much windpower today that price for electricity will fall... below zero. Wish we had wind too
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
8 months
I would say New York definitively showed up to fight fossil fuel. What a day!
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
Holy toledo, they're talking about essentially shutting down California's power grid this weekend because of fire risk. Life in the climate crisis feels scary in lots of ways, and this is one.
@passantino
Jon Passantino
5 years
PG&E now considering a power blackout in all of its California territory this wknd over extreme fire risk — an unprecedented action. "this system will be the strongest of the year and likely will be stronger than the October 2017 northern CA fire event.”
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
The @nytimes columnist feebly trying to trash @GretaThunberg sums up his point thusly: "Democracy often calls for waiting and seeing." We've been waiting for 30 years, and what we've seen are a string of the hottest years in recorded history. So maybe our democracies should...act
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
10 months
Shell's CEO chose the hottest day in human history to announce he was reneging on the company's climate pledges. Thanks to the @newyorker for letting me call out this kind of despicable behavior
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
3 years
To have beaten back fascism via the ballot box is not nothing.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
Amazing action. Harvard Yale Game is literally peak establishment--and they were forced to think about what their investments are doing to the world. Such thanks for this leadership!
@DivestHarvard
Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard 🔶
4 years
BREAKING: Over 150 Yale + Harvard students, alumni, faculty stormed the field at #HarvardYale to demand DIVESTMENT from fossil fuels & cancel holdings in Puerto Rican debt. When it comes to the status quo, #NobodyWins . @YaleEJC @FossilFreeYale @DivestHarvard
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
A solar and wind company is now worth more than Exxon, which not long ago was the most profitable corporation on earth
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
The uncanny confluence of Putin's invasion and the IPCC report is a stark reminder: fossil fuel powers the worst crises facing our planet. If we use this moment to get off oil and gas, we have a fighting chance as a planet.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
Shell CEO on climate change: “Yeah, we knew. Everybody knew. And somehow we all ignored it.” This is beyond maddening. Not everyone knew, because the oil industry worked for 3 decades to cover it up. Your greed wasted our best chance at survival
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
6 years
The new Brazilian president's pledge to wreck the Amazon is a tragic reminder that environmentalists need to win a fight forever, while the other side only needs to win it once.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
7 years
5.6 million Floridians have been told to evacuate, making it by far the largest mass movement of people in American history. Hot new world.
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Bill McKibben
5 years
As GOP dopes rattle on about how we shouldn't do anything because of China, @GretaThunberg says quietly, 'in Sweden some people say we shouldn't do anything because of the US. Just so you know.' Audience explodes in joyful laughter
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
This will turn out to be an iconic image of the global warming era. It came on the last day of the hottest decade recorded in Australia, and on earth. So far.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
Americans are understandably preoccupied right now. But a typhoon with winds gusting to 235 mph is now crashing into the Philippines--possibly the strongest storm ever to make landfall on earth. If you pray, now would be a good time
@gdimeweather
Greg Diamond
4 years
Super Typhoon Goni is about to slam into the Phillippines as about as strong of a storm as the planet can produce If it landfalls at its current strength (195 mph with gusts to 235 mph!!) it will be the most powerful tropical cyclone on record to make landfall in world history
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
Since October, Australia's #bushfires have spewed as much carbon into the air as the entire country produces from every car, home, and factory in a typical eight months. Climate chaos feeds on itself now.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
Huge huge huge win--Norwegian govt (an oil state) is recommending that the world's largest sovereign wealth fund Fully Divest From All Fossil Fuel. Financial Times: "this will send shockwaves through the energy sector."
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
7 years
My favorite picture ever, under headline "Supporters of President Trump Rally In Portland Maine"
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
5 years
For those who are wondering, this thread offers a calm and comprehensive scientific account of why climate change makes fires like the ones now shrouding California more likely and more hellish
@Weather_West
Dr. Daniel Swain
5 years
If Northern California had received anywhere near the typical amount of autumn precipitation this year (around 4-5 in. of rain near #CampFire point of origin), explosive fire behavior & stunning tragedy in #Paradise would almost certainly not have occurred. (1/n) #CAfire #CAwx
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
2 years
Today's declaration from the WH banning Russian oil is, potentially, a turning point for the world. If we use it to wean ourselves off fossil fuel fast, as Biden says we will, then we can take on both despots and climate destruction. It may be a day historians look back on
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
Not being an astronomer, I can't really offer an opinion on whether a giant asteroid crashing into the planet would be desirable
@DJKoessler
DJ Koessler
4 years
Amy Coney Barrett just said she does "not have firm views" on climate change because she's "not a scientist." What!? The science is not up for debate. No confirmation until inauguration.
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@billmckibben
Bill McKibben
4 years
Son of a gun, the British Medical Journal launches a campaign for fossil fuel divestment, also announces will no longer accept ads from fossil fuel companies or publish research they fund!!!
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