The Vermont Conversation with David Goodman

The Vermont Conversation with David Goodman


Author & activist Bill McKibben launches his Third Act

September 10, 2021

Bill McKibben has a new target for his climate activism: his fellow Baby Boomers.


McKibben, the founder of the global climate action group 350.org and a bestselling author, announced last week that he will end his weekly “Climate Crisis” column in The New Yorker and instead launch his own Substack newsletter, The Crucial Years, and a new organization, ThirdAct.org. He tweeted: “We're going to try and organize 'experienced Americans' — i.e., people over 60 like me — around issues of climate justice, racial justice, economic justice.”


“Our generations have done their share of damage,” he writes. “We're on the verge of leaving the world a worse place than we found it. But we also have the skills and resources to help make change.”


McKibben also reflects on the perilous state of democracy and on the prospects for his beloved but snakebitten Boston Red Sox.