environmentalactivism

Israel's military says it has completed its mission in Khan Younis and its troops will rotate out. Also: IAEA urges restraint after a drone attack on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and a British man becomes the first person to run the length of Africa.

The fight against climate change is at a crossroads.

This past year, the climate movement in the United States achieved significant success. The recently passed Inflation Reduction Act represents the single largest investment in emissions reduction in U.S. history. More than a dozen states have taken some form of climate action in 2022 alone. Earlier this year, California — which, if it were a country, would have the fifth largest economy in the world — approved a record $54 billion in climate spending alongside sweeping new restrictions on fossil fuel development. These investments coincide with a wave of technological transformation: Over the past decade, the cost of solar energy has declined around 90 percent and that of onshore wind around 70 percent, making these energy sources economically competitive with fossil fuels for the first time.

“The new numbers turn the economic logic we’re used to upside down,” writes the climate activist and journalist Bill McKibben. To him, the import of this moment is clear: For the first time, McKibben argues, humanity has at our fingertips the tools needed to end humanity’s millenniums-long dependence on burning things for energy — and to save our climate in the process.

To those familiar with the climate movement, McKibben is a familiar name. His book “The End of Nature” has been compared to Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” in terms of its impact on the climate movement. He’s founded organizations like Third Act and 350.org, the latter of which is among the largest climate activist organizations in the world today. He was a key leader in the fight to block the Keystone XL pipeline. And he currently writes the influential newsletter “The Crucial Years.” Ask anyone in the climate movement today about their inspirations and McKibben will almost certainly top the list.

But in McKibben’s telling, the climate movement’s successes in getting us to this point actually require it to change. A movement founded on blocking bad things from happening now needs to turn to building at intensified speed; a movement that has long fought to preserve the natural world now has to help usher in a wholesale transformation of the global landscape; a movement that has long been critical of capitalism and economic growth now has to align itself with those forces in order to achieve its ends.

Those shifts will require new tactics, new animating ideas, new motivations and new priorities — with the future of the climate hanging in the balance. So I wanted to have McKibben on the show to talk about this dawning era of the climate fight we’re entering, and what changes the movement will have to make to meet this moment.

Mentioned:

“The Single Best Guide to Decarbonization I’ve Heard” by The Ezra Klein Show

Book Recommendations:

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson

Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit

How It Went by Wendell Berry

Thoughts? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. (And if you’re reaching out to recommend a guest, please write  “Guest Suggestion” in the subject line.)

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

Warning of imminent ecological catastrophe, the Earth Liberation Front became notorious in the late 1990s for setting fire to symbols of ecological destruction, including timber mills, an S.U.V. dealership and a ski resort. The group was widely demonized. Its exploits were condemned by mainstream environmental groups, ridiculed by the media and inspired a furious crackdown from law enforcement.

But in 2022 the group is more relevant than ever. These days even America’s mainstream environmental movement has begun to take a more confrontational approach, having previously confined its activities largely to rallies, marches and other lawful forms of protest. Even the “staid” environmental groups based in Washington have slowly started to embrace more radical tactics. Climate activists are starting to abandon their dogmatic attachment to pacifism, choosing instead to work toward destroying the “machines” inflicting the damage — but will such a radical idea prove effective?

The journalist Matthew Wolfe delves into the world of the activists, and questions the future of environmental activism.

This story was written by Matthew Wolfe and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

The pandemic creates a Zoom dysmorphia crisis, Roy Wood Jr. talks to attorney Steven Donziger about his battle against Chevron, and NBA star Jeremy Lin discusses his mental health advocacy.

To help the National Alliance on Mental Illness in their work providing advocacy, education and support for mental health, donate at www.dailyshow.com/NAMI.

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Today on the Matt Walsh Show, I have noticed a startling similarity between my 2-year-old son and socialists. I will explain. Also, a horrifying Michael Jackson documentary, aired last night, only reinforces what any sane person already knew about Jackson. So why are his fans still defending him? Finally, I'll answer your emails. Date: 03-04-2019

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