Vermont Global-Warming March Demands Federal Legislative Action

Interview with Bill McKibben, author and environmentalist, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Environmentalist and author Bill McKibben wrote "The End of Nature" in 1984, the first book about global warming for a popular audience. He's been working ever since to raise awareness of the issue, as greenhouse gas emissions have increased exponentially over the past two decades with virtually no action taken by Washington to address the problem. Where Washington has failed, cities and states have taken the initiative to cut back emissions from fossil fuels, promote energy conservation and increase the use of renewable energy. In that vein, McKibben organized a five-day walk across Vermont that spanned the Labor Day weekend. The walk was a call to make global warming THE key issue politicians must respond to. And respond they did -- at the closing rally in Burlington, every politician running for federal office -- Democrat, Republican, and independent Congressman Bernie Sanders -- signed onto a pledge to support the ambitious global warming bill sponsored by outgoing Vermont Independent Sen. Jim Jeffords.

Vermont, like everywhere else, is suffering effects from global warming that are changing the very nature of the state, and the issue has become a critical one for many of the state's residents and voters.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Bill McKibben after the first mass action and rally which focused totally on global warming. He discusses the urgent need to address global climate change and what he hopes the walk will accomplish.

For more information on Vermonters Walking Toward a Clean Energy Future, visit the group's website at www.vtw-alc.org

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