"Recycling is good, but recycling five bottles of water a day leads to reusing more than you have to," Putnam said. "We need to reduce our impact in the first place."
In addition to reducing impact on a large scale, McKibben advocates political change as a necessity in fighting global warming.
"We need to change policy, not light bulbs," said McKibben.
To date, the United States remains the only industrialized nation not to have joined the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty guaranteeing the protection of the environment, McKibben said. He attributed part of the problem to a lack of organization within the environmentalist community.
"There were never any real political movements to force change," McKibbin said. "We had superstructure...but no movement, no people out there to effect change. We have that now."
Growing support for environmental awareness has also been observed at BC. Peggy Fox, another Ecopledge leader and A&S '08, described the growth of the club as progressing from about seven people just four years ago to more than 100 members this year.
"Being green is becoming trendy," Fox said.
Support for this cause is not as widespread as support for many other causes, but for good reason. "We didn't do a big march on Washington. We wanted people to capture the beauty of their own place, their own locality," said McKibben, a Vermont native.
McKibben, who has gained a reputation as a leading environmentalist from several books he has written, including The End of Nature, said he is quite content to effect change from his Vermont home. His 20 years of experience have led him to become "politically disengaged," but he encourages others to become involved.
"Exxon Mobil and other companies would like us to be politically disengaged and leave the field to them," McKibben said. His wish is to witness a movement "as passionate and engaged as the Civil Rights Movement" led in the figurative backyards of organizers.
Carrying out the fight in this manner will foster community spirit and a connection among Americans that has been gradually fading over the last 50 years, McKibben said.
He also stressed the importance of community. The people shopping at local farmer's markets are likely to "bring about the kind of change that drives other change," McKibben said. He asserted that by working together, humans can prevent the dark future that science projects as a result of climate change.
With growing appreciation for the gifts of nature, a retardation of the planet's warming seems probable, but the window of time to act is very short, McKibben concluded.
"Plan A isn't working anymore. We need Plan B, and lots of them," he said.
Spring Break
