We’ve made climate progress before—learn how to do it again. Climate policy expert Leah Stokes joins ThirdAct’s Bill McKibben and Rebecca Solnit to discuss her new book, The Carbon Wave: the true, inspiring story of the new parents who spearheaded the largest climate law in American history. Q&A to follow.
About this event
Join ThirdAct’s Bill McKibben and Rebecca Solnit in conversation with climate expert Leah Stokes on her new book, The Carbon Wave: A Story of Parenthood, Democracy, and the Race to Protect Our Planet.
Everyone has been told to shrink their carbon footprint and lighten their load on our planet by changing their behavior. But what if instead of making ourselves smaller, we joined with others to maximize our impact? That’s the carbon wave. Telling stories behind the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the largest climate package in American history, Stokes shows how perseverance and collective action can still bend the course of history. Hear the fascinating story of how the landmark agreement came together, the young parents behind the law, and how it fared throughout the second Trump administration. Learn how to form your own carbon wave to make climate progress in your community. A Q&A will follow the panel conversation.
Leah Stokes, Climate Expert and Associate Professor, UC Santa Barbara
Leah C. Stokes is the Anton Vonk Associate Professor of Environmental Politics at UC Santa Barbara. As a leading climate advocate, she has championed climate policy in the United States at all levels of government and was selected for Time Magazine’s Time100 Next list and Business Insider’s top 30 global climate leaders. A recipient of a Harvard University Radcliffe Fellowship, she is also the author of the award-winning Short Circuiting Policy, which was listed as one of the top five climate books in 2020 by The New York Times.
Rebecca Solnit, Author and Activist
Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than 25 books, including Orwell’s Roses, Hope in the Dark, Men Explain Things to Me, A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster, and A Field Guide to Getting Lost. A longtime climate and human rights activist, she serves on the boards of Oil Change International and Third Act. Her newsletter of essays and analyses can be found at meditationsinanemergency.com.
Bill McKibben, Author, Educator, Activist, founder of Third Act’
Bill McKibben is the author of more than twenty books, including the bestsellers The End of Nature, Falter, and Deep Economy. He is the founder of Third Act, a project organizing people over sixty for progressive change. He is a contributing writer to The New Yorker, and serves as the Schumann Distinguished Professor in Residence at Middlebury College.
Bill was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the ‘alternative Nobel,’ in the Swedish Parliament. He’s also won the Gandhi Peace Award and honorary degrees from 19 colleges and universities. He lives in Vermont with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern.
