College Times

Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Nancie Bataglia

Bill McKibben authored the first major book on the dangers of global warming almost 20 years ago and helped organize the largest-ever grassroots global warming demonstration in 2007, so who better than Bill McKibben to offer a new outlook on how to save the planet from environmental disaster in his newest book, Deep Economy, The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future.

McKibben talks about happiness in America, party lines and "Generation Me"

College Times: Tell me a little bit about the ideas you highlight in Deep Economy. You say that "more" is no longer synonymous with "better"?

Bill McKibben: "All that we've asked of our economy for the last 100 years is that it get bigger. We need to ask two other things of it: that it be resilient, or durable - environmentally is probably the most important way - and that it provide a higher level of satisfaction to us than it is at the moment. To me, that was one of the revelations, the idea that more equals better is deeply engrained in us, but, in fact, seems not really to be true. The percentage of Americans who say they are very happy with their lives has been slipping for fifty years, even as our standard of living has almost tripled. Only about a quarter of Americans will claim to be very happy now. It gives you some idea that something's gone wrong. We're past the point of diminishing returns. "

Are you sure more isn't better? Here in Phoenix, we're always billed as the fastest-growing city in America, and told that all the new developments and businesses sprawling out into the desert are a good thing?

"In my mind, it doesn't necessarily equate to success… When you talk about those sorts of sprawling suburbs, that's how Americans have defined success; a bigger house, further apart from other people. The odd thing is that it hasn't made us happier, just the opposite. As we've gotten further and further out into the rings of suburbia, we've been less and less likely to run into each other throughout the course of the day. The average American has half as many close friends as they did 50 years ago, the average American eats meals with friends, family and neighbors half as often as they did. So it's no great wonder that we're not completely overjoyed with our lives. And I think the answer lies in trying to go somewhat more localized economies, trying to reel back in some of the global supply lines we've spent the last 100 years throwing out. The food economy would be a good example. At the moment, food travels on average about 1,500 miles to reach our lips, and we think that's local. The only reason we can do that is because we rely on cheap cost of fuel, and that's not going to be possible all that much longer, not with oil running towards $110 a barrel. The alternative is to do much more localized food systems, and that's what's starting to happen. The fastest-growing part of the food economy in America is local markets. They put people closer to their food, and they also put people closer to each other. The average shopper who goes to a local farmers' market has 10 times as many conversations in the course of that visit as a shopper at a supermarket. It's a different social experience, one we like better."

Why are environmental issues so often associated with party lines and other divides? The "right-wing" is identified as people that are concerned with fiscal issues, and the "left-wing" is concerned with the environment. Your ideas seem to meld those issues together.

"I have no idea why that is, and I don't think it makes sense. You tell me what the politics of a farmer's market is. Is it liberal, or conservative? It's about supporting your neighbors. Is that liberal, or conservative? It's about being self-reliant."

This generation of college students is often times referred to as "Generation Me", painting it as a selfish group that doesn't care about anything outside their realm, of which the environment would be included. Do you agree with that?

"I think it's changing fast. I think we're seeing the rise of the first real widespread student movement since the end of the Vietnam War, around global warming. There were 7,000 young people gathered at the Power Shift Conference from all over the country in Washington in the fall. We've just launched this new global initiative for climate change called 350.org that's using all kinds of college students as key players, both here and around the world."

Bill McKibben, Changing Hands Bookstore, 6428 S. McClintock Dr, Tempe, 480.730.0205, Tuesday, March 25, 7 p.m., free