Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, headlines Nov. 29 event
MADISON — On the heels of his July Rolling Stone article, one of the most shared pieces in the magazine’s history, renowned climate change activist and spokesperson Bill McKibben is bringing his national Do the Math Tour to Madison Thursday, Nov. 29. The event is sponsored by 350 Madison, the local branch of 350.org, and Clean Wisconsin’s Doug La Follette Environmental Speakers Program.
McKibben’s message is simple math: We can burn 565 more gigatons of carbon and stay below 2°C of warming. Anything more than that risks catastrophe for life on earth. But with 2,795 gigatons of carbon in fossil fuel reserves ready to be burned, we need to act now.
This tour will be anything but a typical lecture. The launch pad for a new movement to change the math of the climate crisis, the tour will feature musical acts, celebrity guests and other climate change advocates; Madison guests will be named in coming weeks.
The event will be held at the Madison Masonic Center, 301 Wisconsin Ave.; street and ramp parking is available nearby. Doors open at 6 p.m., with the program starting at 7. Tickets are $10 and are available at cleanwisconsin.org/mckibben.
Called “the nation’s leading environmentalist” by the Boston Globe, McKibben organized 350.org in 2009. That year, his organization held what Foreign Policy magazine called the largest-ever globally coordinated rally with 5,200 simultaneous demonstrations in 181 countries.
