The April issue of Scientific American includes an exclusive
excerpt from Bill McKibben's new book, Eaarth: Making a Life on
a Tough New Planet, plus an interview that challenges his
assumptions. Expanded answers to key interview questions, and
additional queries and replies, appear here. McKibben is a
scholar in residence at Middlebury College in Vermont and is a
co-founder of the climate action group, 350.org. He argues that
humankind, because of its actions, now lives on a fundamentally
different world, which he calls Eaarth. This celestial body can
no longer support the economic growth model that has driven
society for the past 200 years. To avoid its own collapse,
humankind must instead seek to maintain wealth and resources, in
large part by shifting to more durable, localized
economies—especially in food and energy production. [A
Scientific American interview with McKibben follows.] You
entitled your book Eaarth, because you claim that we have
permanently altered the planet. How so? And why should we ch