AASHE Keynote Speaker: Bill McKibben

Author, academic and activist Bill McKibbon was the Keynote speaker at the Student Summit opening here in Pittsburgh at AASHE 2011.  McKibbon spoke primarily about his 350 campaign (www.350.org) in which he and seven undergraduates mobilized over 5,000 demonstrations around the world to raise awareness about the 350 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere threshold to sustain life as we know it.  We are currently at 390 parts per million.

McKibbon used his experiences working with a small group of undergrads to illustrate the importance of student activism and of student responsibility.  He said that seven students turned out to be a good number, because there are seven continents, so they each just took one a went to work.  The student that got Antarctica had to take in the internet, too.

Because the climate policy and climate struggle is changing in its very nature, McKibbon stated that we, too, need to be prepared to change our tactics.  He said that this may include the use of our bodies.  He personally has spent more time in jails over the last three months than at home.  Mobilizing and motivating that kind of activism is what he considers to be his most important task.  To open his speech, he declared that what he is doing right now, addressing a room full of motivated students, is the most important this he could be doing and in the most important place.  He further encouraged attendees by saying that we are lucky, because today, we too can say that we are doing the most important thing we could be doing just be being here at AASHE, becoming a part of the sustainability movement.

An encouraging and inspiring start to what should be a great conference.