Climate Matters: Thoughts on the birth of my first grandchild

Asa Caleb Crane was born a few weeks ago. He came into the world with a full head of hair, and on first impression an undeniable charisma, a full array of important moral virtues, and a calm but determined approach to the new world in which he found himself. 

BILL MCKIBBEN VERMONT — The grassroots climate justice organization 350Vermont is seeking to pressure utilities to sell energy using renewable sources while producing fewer or no greenhouse gasses. The organization will do this by ratcheting up pressure o … (read more)

In Vermont, the scent of wood smoke on a late fall afternoon is an iconic smell. It’s not like that here today, in the first week of June — it’s more like sitting on the side of the campfire where the wind is blowing, but without any of the benefits of th … (read more)

I always enjoy town meeting, but last Monday night at Ripton was truly special.

Gas stoves make people sick, why are we still using them?

I am writing this dispatch from a southbound train, which left Middlebury at midday and is making its way — not too fast, not too slow — toward Penn Station in New York City. 

16th in a series Most of the time I’m writing about vested interest as the key obstacle to making the energy transition. And it is — without the endless campaign of delay, denial and disinformation from Big Oil and its friends, we’d have started making bi … (read more)

It pains me a bit to say, massive tree-planting campaigns are under assault as a climate tool, and that the assault seems to have some real merit.

I had to go into Porter Hospital this morning for what we call, I believe, a routine procedure — if I say that I had spent the previous day chugging Miralax to prepare, an inquiring reader might be able to figure out the details.

This is a story of a state that’s failing to understand we’re actually in a climate emergency, and continuing with business that looks a lot like usual.

I think often of what a privilege it is to live in the most vaccinated county in the most vaccinated state in the union. We have many good institutions and leaders to thank for that status — our schools and churches, Middlebury College, our governor and l … (read more)

BARNET — On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. stood in the pulpit of the Riverside Church in Manhattan’s Upper West Side and delivered one of the most important and powerful speeches of his life. Despite counsel from many of his allies, King condemned … (read more)

Two notes from the side of the mountain in Ripton: •  The cross-country skiing is better than I ever remember up here. The regular installments of snow, and the cold temperatures, have let Barney Hodges, Mike Hussey and their team at Rikert, and Andy McIn … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — Bill Mckibben will highlight the next Green Mountain Club James P. Taylor Outdoor Adventure Series when he presents “The Climate Fight: A Report from the Front” on Thursday, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. via Zoom. An author, environmentalist, and activi … (read more)

Small men — it’s rarely a woman — can wreak havoc on a large scale. Whip together ambition, guile, and ill-will with a little luck, and such men can do outsized damage. Great women and men leave their mark at every scale. They not only shape the lives of … (read more)