Oil and Honey

August 12, 2013
Since 2007, former New Yorker writer McKibben (The End of Nature), has been at the forefront of the grassroots movement to fight global warming. With his organization, 350.org, McKibben has encouraged people all over the world to commit acts of civil disobedience in order to publicize the way climate change had affected their way of life. He has also worked to challenge the Keystone XL Pipeline project, endorsed by the Obama administration, but excoriated by environmentalists. Here, McKibben's accounts of activism are punctuated with visits to a friend's farm, and discussions of small-scale farming techniques and bee husbandry. Although he was harnessing the power of politicians, scientists, billionaires, and celebrities and speaking through the loudest megaphone of his career, McKibben kept returning to the beehives flourishing in the Vermont woods. What lessons in organization, adaptation, and endurance could be gleaned from the way bees work together and interact with their environment? Tracking the emotional and intellectual journey that took McKibben from Vermont to picket lines in Washington, D.C. to town halls, universities, and arenas, the book is a call to action and an inspiring playbook for making changeâboth locally and globallyâin the 21st century.

Starred review from March 15, 2014

McKibben's (Maybe One) large-scale battle against the Keystone XL pipeline and Big Oil is set against stories of a beekeeping friend in Vermont. This comparison helps drive home McKibben's message about serving humanity by both working toward legislation and in our own backyard helping to limit climate change. Listeners will learn all of the important facts about global warming and may be inspired to use a bicycle more often. Amazing facts about bees and their importance to our survival will leave listeners reconsidering whether to swat at the next one they see. Kevin T. Collins wonderfully captures the author's emotion in his narration. VERDICT Highly recommended for newbies as well as those knowledgeable about climate change. ["Moving, brief, and readable, McKibben's story will appeal to a broad range of readers," concurred the review of the Times: Holt hc, LJ 10/1/13.]--Sean Kennedy, Cleveland Marshall Coll. Law Lib.

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