Response to Bill McKibben’s Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

            After listening to the two podcasts between Bill McKibben and Mark Fischetti, I feel very more informed on the view that McKibben holds. The main point of his book and he repeatedly brings up in this interview is that although we might not have an exact plan or a "utopia" for our world yet, we need to be conscious and aware of what direction we are headed in.
            Another point McKibben made was that we need to localize things more. This doesn't neccesaritly mean staying in your "own little box" all day. McKibben mentions that in the past couple years in his life, he has stayed at home but is still able to connect globally and such through the progression of technology. He also states that:

"And so what is it that does work for poor and vulnerable people? I think the evidence is pretty clear that for instance, local, labor–intensive, low-input agriculture is the smartest option from much of the world, both in terms of providing jobs, security, stability and food, and in making those ecological systems robust enough to withstand the damage that's coming, that's already here."

            I think this ties right in with his localizing theme, as well as provides a semi-solution to the poverty issue. 

            I think one of the positive things to take from this interview and/or book by McKibben is that we are starting to slowly progress into the kind of country that we need to be. However, we might be moving to slowly. Although we are individually trying to do our best to "go green" by looking up how to "double-dig" and stuff, we need to come together and change the way we do things, store supplies, and clump tasks together as a nation.
            In closing, I'll leave you with an interesting fact that McKibben makes in his book: "Less than 1 percent of Americans are now really farming at the moment, so there's twice as many prisoners as there are farmers in the United States".

Feel free to listen to the podcast yourself, and form your own opinions at
Part 1: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=bill-mckibbens-eaarth-10-04-21
Part 2: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=bill-mckibbens-eaarth-conclusion-10-04-22&WT.mc_id=SA_emailfriend