In Search of Monsters — How to Stop Burning Things

In this episode of In Search of Monsters, host Chris Lydon speaks with author Bill McKibben. When McKibben looks at the war in Ukraine, he sees a chapter – maybe the very last one –  in the chronicle of a planet that we humans are burning into our own extinction. To the environmentalist’s eye, oil power is the universal villain, hiding in every savage scene from Ukraine. “Oil is Putin’s weapon,” as McKibben puts it: it’s the fossil fuel that leaves climate-changing carbon fumes in the sky. Oil, while it lasts, is Putin’s bankroll. It’s Russia’s last exportable treasure, the concentrated power base of a one-man petro-state. In Bill McKibben’s scenario, there will be no Putins when the world is powered by solar panels and wind farms. Meantime, this war is one more wake-up warning.

Listen to the full episode here:

Additionally, check out these related resources:

• In a World on Fire, Stop Burning Things – Bill McKibben in The New Yorker, 3/18/22. 
• Climate change is a national security issue – QI Research Fellow Adam Weinstein’s RS piece, 9/1/22. 
• Climate Change: The Greatest National Security Threat to the United States – QI Eurasia Director Anatol Lieven’s Quincy Brief, October 2021.