MIT World Speakers

Bill McKibben

Bill McKibben has been an environmental activist, educator, and prolific writer for the past two decades. He was one of the first to articulate the problem of climate change for a nonscientific readership, with his 1989 book, The End of Nature. In March 2007, McKibben published his most recent book, Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. He zealously carries out dual pursuits as an author and crusader to spread the message of nature‘s vulnerability and the consequences for civilization of global warming.

In 2006, he orchestrated the then largest demonstration against global warming in US history. Now he devotes his time and passion to the massive organizing effort for a worldwide event in October 2009, highlighting the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions.

McKibben is a graduate of Harvard University, and the recipient of Guggenheim and Lyndhurst Fellowships as well as honorary degrees from several institutions. He is a religious school teacher in his Methodist Church in Vermont, and a scholar in residence at Middlebury College.