The best way to fight climate change is through citizen movements 

As climate change intensifies year after year, more and more people are joining movements for positive change. Social activism around climate change is becoming a powerful tool for achieving a net zero world by spreading awareness and motivating others to act.

So tells us Bill McKibben , Schumann Distinguished Professor at Middlebury College, where he also directs the Middlebury Fellowships in Environmental Journalism. Bill is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Gandhi Peace Prize laureate, as well as honorary degrees from 20 colleges and universities.

He also helped found 350.org, the first global citizens’ organization to fight climate change, and is the author of The End of Nature, published in 1989 and widely credited as the first book for a general audience on climate change. He has written more than 20 books and his work appears regularly in publications ranging from the New Yorker to Rolling Stone.

He is as well the founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 to take action on climate.

Bill McKibben spoke at the Future Trends Forum Building a net zero world, giving a keynote speech and answering questions from the attending experts.

If you want to see Bill McKibben’s lecture, where, among other things, shares his opinion on the technologies and innovations that offer the best hope of bringing the world to net zero, you can watch it here:

Below, some of the key points provided by this expert are summarized:

Replacing fossil fuels is imperative for humanity

There are powerful reasons to eliminate fossil fuels as soon as possible, according to Bill McKibben:

1.- Health: according to a meta study conducted in 2021, the pollution produced by fossil fuels (especially coal, gasoline and diesel) is responsible for more than 9 million deaths per year. That is to say, it is responsible for 1 in 5 deaths and means more than all the deaths caused by the sum of Covid, HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and terrorism.

2.- Climate change: The impact of greenhouse gas emissions on climate change has been known for decades. In fact, Svante August Arrehenius, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in 1903, was the first to calculate, in 1896, the carbon dioxide emissions that caused the greenhouse effect.

3.- Geopolitics: Connection between fossil fuels and autocracies. Since fossil fuel fields are located in few places on the planet, they accumulate economic and political power in countries that are often autocratic, such as Saudi Arabia. Russia’s recent war in Ukraine makes this reason even more relevant.

Renewable energies are the solution to climate change

McKibben says the solution is to switch massively from fossil fuels to renewables, primarily solar and wind, combined with batteries and hydropower, as soon as possible.

Although many people are skeptical about the feasibility of the proposal, this expert mentions a study conducted by Mark Z. Jacobson, from Stanford University, which led him to write the book 100% Clean, Renewable Energy and Storage for Everything, where he examines the scientific, engineering, economic, social and political aspects of the transition of towns, cities, states, countries, companies and the entire world to 100% clean and renewable wind, hydro and solar energy (which he calls WWS, from wind-water-solar) and the necessary storage. And where it shows that it would be viable to make that transition between 2030 and 2035.

This is economically feasible due to the drop in renewable energy prices over the last decade. The prices of renewables have fallen 90% in the last 10 years, according to the study A critical assessment of learning curves for solar and wind power technologies, mentioned by McKibben.

He also points out that tens of billions of euros would be saved, given that once the required technology and engineering is installed, facility maintenance is much cheaper than the processes of extracting and processing fossil fuels.

Energy transition is not happening as fast as it should be

If the facts are as conclusive as McKibben tells us, why is there not already an energy transition process in full swing? According to this expert, the process is slowed down by big oil companies’ opposition and because not everyone is aware of how urgent it is.

According to the latest IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) study, it is essential to hurry up and accelerate if we want to reach a scenario in which the temperature does not rise more than 1.5º. And it warns, “If policies are not strengthened beyond those implemented by the end of 2020, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are projected to increase beyond 2025, leading to an average global warming of 3.2°C by 2100.”

The good news is that, at least in the US, there is the first serious climate change legislation since James Hansen testified in the US Senate more than 30 years ago about the climate risks.

In addition, the Build Back Better Act, which provides for hundreds of billions to help accelerate the energy transition, is about to be passed.

The package would set aside $369 billion for climate and energy proposals, the most ambitious climate action ever taken by Congress, and raise some $451 billion in new tax revenues over a decade, while cutting federal spending on prescription drugs by $288 billion.

McKibben’s underlying question is: Could we accelerate the energy transition if we wanted to?

While the answer is not closed, Bill illustrates a case that shows it is plausible: post-World War II reconstruction.

President Biden is invoking the Defense Production Act, which is the law that was used in World War II, to accelerate domestic manufacturing of clean energy.

On the other hand, McKibben reminds us that fossil fuels are being used as a weapon of war, as his friend Svitlana Romanko, a Ukrainian environmental lawyer and climate change strategist, has been claiming.

Citizens’ movements against climate change

McKibben, while insisting that innovation and technology are ready to address the change in the energy model, says that without the citizens’ movements it will not be possible to make such a change.

And these are what make him hopeful. Above all, the youth movements, such as Fridays For Future, the organization founded by Greta Thunberg.

And the older ones, such as the movement he has created, Third Act, which are the ones with more economic resources, to support these young people.

Actions to mitigate climate change

According to this expert, what should be done is to implement all the technology that is already in place for renewables and, at the same time, invest huge amounts of money into researching and developing the next generation of sustainable solutions (carbon capture, green hydrogen, etc.).

For McKibben, there is no such dichotomy between mitigation and adaptation. The best adaptation to climate change is the strongest and fastest possible mitigation.

If the temperature were to rise by 3ºC, there could be no adaptation, since there would be a risk of collapse of current civilization. According to several studies, including one by the think tank Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), such a scenario would lead to a billion “climate refugees”.

What can we do as individuals?

For McKibben, the answer is clear: be a little less “individual” and get involved in movements that are moving in this direction.

Citizens’ movements are the most powerful tool to change politics and economy towards a net zero world, concludes this expert.