Bill Mckibben

"Bill McKibben has written a graceful, witty and tragic essay about the consequences of global warming caused by the Greenhouse Effect."

Reader P.J. Gendell of Beverly Hills, in a letter published Thursday posed a question to journalist and climate-change activist Bill McKibben in response to his Jan. 6 Op-Ed article, "Climate change won't wait": "McKibben is very adamant that 'if we're to slow the pace of climate change, we need to cut emissions globally at a sensational rate, by something like 5% a year.' Considering what a huge amount that is, it would be helpful for...

"DEEP ECONOMY" is a riff on "deep ecology," a philosophical and scientific perspective that views humankind as but one species in the grand web of life. Ecology, of course, refers to the intricate pattern of relations between living entities and their environment. We most often use the word "economy" to refer to "the structure of economic life," to quote Webster's. But economy derives from the Greek word oikonomia, which translates as "household manager."

With the U.S. Senate poised to begin debate on a bill that would greenlight the controversial Keystone XL pipeline as early as Tuesday, activists and other citizens have barraged the Senate with more than 350,000 petitions opposing the legislation in less than five hours. Activists Bill McKibben , Robert Redford and other celebs such as Kyra Sedgwick and Ian Somerhalder have joined the Natural Resources Defense Council, 350.org, the Sierra Club and other groups in coordinating the petition effort . The goal is 500,000 messages to the Senate by Tuesday.

No matter how many more--and better--books he may write, Bill McKibben is destined to be remembered for "The End of Nature," his 1989 bestseller about the greenhouse effect and its effect on, well, Bill McKibben.

Whole Green Catalog 1,000 Best Things for You and the Earth Edited Michael W. Robbins Foreword by Bill McKibben Introduction by Renee Loux Rodale: 390 pp., $29.99 It's about time. Modeled on the "Whole Earth Catalog," this compendium of products, easy on the Earth, ranges from kitchenware to cars to pet food. Lush and stylish, the book lists everything you need to make you want to go off-grid: sustainable skateboards, products to help you recycle, appliances, biofuel and cashmere.

Reader P.J. Gendell of Beverly Hills, in a letter published Thursday posed a question to journalist and climate-change activist Bill McKibben in response to his Jan. 6 Op-Ed article, "Climate change won't wait": "McKibben is very adamant that 'if we're to slow the pace of climate change, we need to cut emissions globally at a sensational rate, by something like 5% a year.' Considering what a huge amount that is, it would be helpful for...

Re "Civilization's last chance," Opinion, May 11 Scientists estimate that the Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. During that time, the Earth has undergone vast, monumental and violent geologic, tectonic, volcanic and climatic changes. The planet has cooled and warmed, ice ages have come and gone, and natural marvels such as the Grand Canyon and Yosemite Valley were left behind. Entire species have been wiped out, and we don't even know why. In contrast, human beings as we know them have existed for about 200,000 years, and they've been industrialized for a few centuries, a mere blink of an eye compared with the age of the Earth.

Nature, we believe, takes forever, moving with infinite slowness through the many periods of its history, whose names we dimly recall from high school biology--the Devonian, the Triassic, the Cretaceous, the Pleistocene. Ever since Darwin, nature writers have taken pains to stress the incomprehensible length of this path. We have been told that man's tenure is as a minute to the Earth's day, but it is that vast day which has lodged in our minds.

Christmas spirit Re "Away with the manger?," Dec. 15 As a confirmed agnostic and active humanist, I am angered and perplexed by the actions of the "devout" atheists who have dominated the creche displays in Santa Monica. I am angered because such disregard for the demonstration of deeply held beliefs by any religious group is inappropriate, and perplexed because it is ultimately counterproductive to efforts by atheists and agnostics to help those who are beginning to question their long-held beliefs to feel comfortable coming to the realization that there is another option.

Bill McKibben's Dec. 14 Op-Ed article decrying the influence of corporate money in Washington vis a vis the political battle over building the Keystone XL pipeline prompted several readers to say McKibben unfairly targeted those politicians who take the side of industry. One letter writer quipped that McKibben "writes an entire Op-Ed article about the corrupting influence of money in politics and never mentions the word 'union' once. " Reader Robert Helbing of Monrovia said big money influences all sides of a debate, including McKibben's own environmental activism: "Bill McKibben complains that oil company donations affect the votes of Republicans in Washington.

"Dear World," begins an open letter from environmentalist Bill McKibben that's posted on climate crisis website 350.org . In it, he proposes a response to what he calls "a tough year" marked by unprecedented rates of glacial retreat in the Arctic, devastating erosion in Latin America, record-breaking temperatures globally ? and an almost complete failure to do anything about it. His suggestion? Throw a party. "Circle 10/10/10 on your calendar," reads the invitation. "That's the date.

Whole Green Catalog 1,000 Best Things for You and the Earth Edited Michael W. Robbins Foreword by Bill McKibben Introduction by Renee Loux Rodale: 390 pp., $29.99 It's about time. Modeled on the "Whole Earth Catalog," this compendium of products, easy on the Earth, ranges from kitchenware to cars to pet food. Lush and stylish, the book lists everything you need to make you want to go off-grid: sustainable skateboards, products to help you recycle, appliances, biofuel and cashmere.

Re "Civilization's last chance," Opinion, May 11 Scientists estimate that the Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. During that time, the Earth has undergone vast, monumental and violent geologic, tectonic, volcanic and climatic changes. The planet has cooled and warmed, ice ages have come and gone, and natural marvels such as the Grand Canyon and Yosemite Valley were left behind. Entire species have been wiped out, and we don't even know why. In contrast, human beings as we know them have existed for about 200,000 years, and they've been industrialized for a few centuries, a mere blink of an eye compared with the age of the Earth.

"DEEP ECONOMY" is a riff on "deep ecology," a philosophical and scientific perspective that views humankind as but one species in the grand web of life. Ecology, of course, refers to the intricate pattern of relations between living entities and their environment. We most often use the word "economy" to refer to "the structure of economic life," to quote Webster's. But economy derives from the Greek word oikonomia, which translates as "household manager."

Acclaimed ecology author Bill McKibben takes us on a thoughtful walkabout through "the home turf of my adult life," beginning on Vermont's Mt. Abraham, crossing Lake Champlain, striding deep into the heart of the Adirondacks' 6 million miles of wilderness.

Re "Keep Us Human," Commentary, April 14: Bill McKibben is dead wrong. The legitimate purpose of genetic engineering is not to turn out clones of Einstein, who couldn't balance his checkbook. Its purpose is to produce, over several generations, a great majority of people who are, by a goodly margin, smarter, stronger and healthier than their forebears and are capable of leading successively fuller, happier lives -- human lives. McKibben says that in our limits we find meaning. What meaning do the Earth's 6 billion souls find in their three- to four-score years, half of them spent in unrewarding and poorly paid labor, capped by descent into crippling disease and senile dementia?