One of the best articles I've read in a long time is a profile of author and environmental activist Bill McKibben in the current issue of Time magazine.
At the heart of the article are McKibben's efforts to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport oil-sands crude from Canada to refineries in the United States. But the show-stopping part of the article, at least for me, was this: Bill McKibben is receiving death threats because of his environmental activism--specifically, it appears, because he is fighting the Keystone XL pipeline.
I probably should not have been surprised by this news. Many of us long have figured the big-oil, pro-corporate right includes some vicious, disturbed individuals. But I never figured a guy like Bill McKibben, a highly respected author long before he became an activist, would be targeted.
Here is the part of the article that gave me pause, and it references the activist group 350.org:
The success of 350.org changed McKibben's life, making him an activist first and a writer second. He now updates more than 30,000 Twitter followers and travels constantly to give lectures and attend protests. He's still figuring out life as a public figure. He answers all his e-mail, and 350.org only recently hired an assistant to book his travel. And he doesn't always relish it. He asks that TIME not photograph the exterior of the house because of death threats. "People seem to think you're going to take their freedom away," he says.
There is some good news in the article. Environmental activists probably are familiar with
350.org, and how it got that name. But it was news to me, and I hope word spreads quickly.
Time explains, referencing McKibben's 2006 effort to organize a demonstration calling for carbon cuts:
Soon after, McKibben learned from NASA climatologist James Hansen about new research indicating that the world needed to stabilize the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide at 350 parts per million (p.p.m.) to avoid dangerous climate change. (We're already at 392 p.p.m. and counting.) Atmospheric carbon concentration hardly makes for catchy protest slogans, but McKibben saw the number 350 as a clarion call, comprehensible to a global audience without translation. His Internet-savvy friends helped him take the idea worldwide. In October 2009, 350.org organized more than 15,000 rallies in 180 countries. It was likely the biggest mass rally in history.
We already are above the level of carbon concentration that will bring dangerous climate change. That is from a NASA scientist, and Bill McKibben is doing profoundly important work to bring that to public attention. But corporate interests want to stop him, and they are willing to threaten his life.
I did not realize how much bravery was required to challenge those who want to let big oil do as it pleases.