Bill McKibben was not always interested in the elements of a sustainable lifestyle. In college, working as a reporter for his university newspaper, he was not educated about his consumption habits or the meaning of sustainability. Not until he started living in the big apple, working for The New Yorker, did a passion begin to grow in him.
“I wrote an article about where everything in my apartment came from… . It made me reflect on how dependent on the physical world I was,” he said.
After retreating to rural life and writing nine books, McKibben is now touted as one of the leading speakers on sustainability, and his lecture “What comes next? Going beyond globalization in the search for sustainability” drew a crowd nearly that nearly filled the Luther Bonney Auditorium last Thursday night at 7 p.m. McKibben, selected as the keynote speaker for this year’s convocation on sustainability crafted his lecture around community, efiiciency and the economy.
“The things people are lacking are no longer accessible through the economy,” said McKibbon. He added that people today have experienced the dubious fulfillment of material possessions and desire something different. The Gallup poll shows the percentage of people who claimed satisfaction with their lives was nearly 10 percent higher in the 1950s, when they had less technology and possessions, than it is today. The health of the economy has become the primary goal. “We’ve allowed it to become the whole deal… . The economic world now seems more real than the physical world,” he said.
Much of the lecture was constructed in anecdotal evidence.
He illustrated the inadequacy of corporate conglomerates with a story about Clear Channel in a small town of North Dakota called Minot. A truck carrying ammonia overturned, releasing a cloud of toxic ammonia into the city. Police attempted to contact the seven radio stations (all owned by Clear Channel) to alert townspeople but found the offices empty. The stations were run from a headquarters outside of the city. People died because there was no access to local broadcasting.
He said the preocupation with efficiency has lead to a breakdown of community which is partially responsible for people’s increasing dissatisfaction with their lives.
This he believed had the potential to be remedied. “The right questions have started being asked by some of the right people,” he said.
McKibben was invited to visit by former Provost and current Professor of Public Policy at the Muskie School Mark Lapping, who met McKibben while attending a philosophy camp in the Adirondack mountains 12 years ago.
Lapping, who recently celebrated the three month anniversary of his kidney transplant, said McKibben was a great support during his time of illness, sending inquiring emails and positive wishes.
“Bill has a real lesson to teach about how to be a good person,” said Lapping. McKibben’s brother, Tom, a graduate of the Education Leadership Master’s program at USM, also influenced his decision to speak at Convocation.
Christy McKinnon can be contacted at [email protected].