By Barbara Slayter
If you live in Lincoln, chances are you are deeply concerned about the environment, distressed about the polarization afflicting our nation, alarmed about climate change, and disturbed about the rise of right-wing authoritarianism. Come hear Bill McKibben, who will discuss his childhood experiences and his reflection on transformations in our country as they are revealed in his latest book, The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks back at his Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened, on Sunday, April 2 at 3 p.m. (event details below).
Bill McKibben is an eminent environmentalist, Professor of Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, and author of more than a dozen books, including the best sellers Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, and The End of Nature, which was the first book to warn the general public about the climate crisis. Recipient of several prestigious prizes, he founded the global grassroots climate campaign 350.org, an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all. His new project, organizing people over 60 for progressive change, is called Third Act.
McKibben grew up next door in Lexington, where he moved when he was ten years old. He rapidly became enmeshed in Lexington’s cherished heritage of colonial farmer-patriots who fought to secure the independence of this country. He was confident in the patterns and certainties of his family’s participation in the Hancock United Church of Christ, an institution central to the religious life of his family. He reveled in the opportunities made possible in an affluent suburb by the automobile, the mechanism for connecting home, work, schools, church, shopping, vacations, and various and sundry other destinations.
Now, 50 years later, he is asking a lot of questions about past policies that shaped contemporary life in America. He is looking around at vast inequalities in wealth, an extraordinary dependence on fossil fuels, sharp racial injustices, and a widespread collapse of trust in our long-treasured institutions. He asks, “What went so suddenly sour with American patriotism, American faith and American prosperity?”
And we ask, how do McKibben’s questions, his experience, and his reflections relate to our small New England town? We may find that they do so in more ways than we could have imagined. Can we seize the opportunity to learn from this scholar/activist who is probing for ways that Americans – all of us — can build a sustainable and just future?
McKibben’s talk is on Sunday, April 2 at 3 p.m. Reservations are not required, so arrive early at the First Parish in Lincoln, go to St. Anne’s Episcopal Church to watch it simulcast live with others (enjoy light refreshments and informal discussion afterwards), or watch on livestream here. This event is sponsored by the First Parish in Lincoln and its committees: Racial Justice Advocates, Outreach, Green and Adult Education.
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