Bill McKibben, Environmentalist/Author

A scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College, McKibben organized Step It Up in 2007, an initiative that inspired 1,400 global warming demonstrations across all 50 states and which has been described as the largest day of protest about climate change in the nation's history. A frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, The New York Review of Books, and Rolling Stone, McKibben is the author of nine books, including the bestselling Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (2007). McKibben points out the shortcomings of growth as an economic ideal and envisions a transition to more locally-based and environmentally-friendly economic activity.