Bill McKibben: Climate Deniers Are 'Beginning To Peter Out'

Climate Strike — Climate protesters demonstrate Friday, Sept. 20, 2019, in Kansas City, Mo. Across the globe, people took to the streets Friday to demand that leaders tackle climate change in the run-up to a U.N. summit.

Hannah Uebele is a producer for Under the Radar with Callie Crossley and previously worked as associate producer for Boston Public Radio. She graduated from Tufts University with a B.S. in English and Environmental Studies. She's a proud Delawarean but has found herself saying "wicked" more and more often, so the Bostonian metamorphosis is well underway.Contact: hannah_uebele@wgbh.org

September 24, 2019

Updated August 07, 2023

A record-breaking worldwide climate strike took place on Friday, with masses of people, spearheaded by students, taking to the streets to protest on every continent. Environmentalist and journalist Bill McKibben spoke with Boston Public Radio on Tuesday to discuss what the protest achieved.

"This was the first truly multi-generational protests that we've seen, and it was amazing," he said. "Not only was it the biggest day of climate protest yet, the spirit around the world was just right — there was a kind of joyful determination that marked the whole thing."

The millions of protesters are a sign that we've reached a turning point in climate change action, McKibben said.

"What it means is that we're reaching the point where finally, after 30 years, our political systems are going to have to face the facts that people want action," he said. "It doesn't mean we're going to get action on the scale we need in the time that we have, but the days of sheer denial are beginning to peter out."