FEBRUARY 4, 2002
CABLE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM TO HOST ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER BILL McKIBBEN

These days, environmental topics such as ozone depletion, global warming, acid rain and climate change are lodged firmly in public consciousness. In the 1980s, however, only a handful of researchers and fewer journalists gave these topics much attention.

Bill McKibben was one of those journalists. As a young reporter concerned about environmental issues, McKibben sensed that through the 20th century, a fundamental change had taken place in the way global systems were responding to human activities. He articulated his concerns in the 1989 book The End of Nature, one of the earliest accounts for a general audience of the practical and philosophical problems posed by global warming. The book has since been translated into 20 languages and is considered essential reading for nature enthusiasts, activists and concerned citizens.

McKibben will be visiting Cable, Wis., Feb. 21-23 to take part in the Cable Natural History Museum’s writing internship program New Voices for Nature. On Friday, Feb. 22, he will participate in a live interview and discussion about writing on WOJB-88.9 FM’s morning show. That evening, at 6:00 p.m., he will give a free public reading at Telemark Resort’s Laukka Theater.

Since publication of The End of Nature, McKibben has continued writing about subjects at the intersection of nature and culture. His recent books address sustainable living, the environmental dangers of overpopulation and unfettered consumption, the effects of television on culture, and most recently, nordic skiing.

Skiers may know McKibben as the author of the 2000 book Long Distance: A Year of Living Strenuously, which tells the story of a year spent in serious training as a cross-country skier. With the help of a trainer, McKibben took on a regimen equivalent to that of an Olympic athlete’s, working out for hours every day in preparation for a series of marathon-length ski races. Along with discovering the limits to physical endurance, McKibben wrestles with questions of health, mortality and balance in life.

A former staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, McKibben writes regularly for publications including the Atlantic Monthly, Harpers, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Natural History and Outside magazine. Currently he is a visiting scholar in environmental studies at Middlebury College in Vermont, where he is working on a book about the environmental implications of biotechnology.

The Cable Natural History Museum’s New Voices for Nature is a year-long program offering the opportunity for twelve citizens to practice environmental stewardship through writing. Program participants meet regularly to discuss issues, critique one another’s writing, and seek publication for their work. The program will also bring a series of professional writers to northwest Wisconsin throughout the year to work with program interns and give public readings.