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Oil And Honey: The Education Of An Unlikely Activist (2013)

by Bill McKibben(Favorite Author)

3.91 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0805098380 (ISBN13: 9780805098389)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Times Books

review 1: I learned a lot more about the Keystone Pipeline than I knew before, as well as facts about climate change that are often hidden from us in the general public. This also gave me a greater understanding and appreciation for grassroots advocacy, especially within the big picture of the environmental movement. Bill's humor is refreshing in the face of terrifying statistics and confused politicians, too. ;)
review 2: A short, swift memoir of his accidental rise from writer to fulltime activist with 350.org and their battle against climate change and specifically Big Oil. I’ve read McKibben before and am onboard with his view and direction. I’m curious as to why he wrote this book. My guess is to explain how 350 came to be, to further strengthen its mission and ... moremandate in the light of attacks from the climate deniers. And its fine for that, McKibben comes across as, in his words, “an unlikely activist,” motivated at first by his increasing concern about climate change and the need to do something, and then as activities begin to achieve success and notoriety, how 350 grows and continues. This isn’t a primer on how to create and organize a multi-national protest movement, for that you’ll have to look elsewhere, but it does describe the personal commitment and energy necessary to move forward. McKibben is honest of his at times ambivalence to his role and his desire to return home for peace and quiet, or what passes for normality for him. The sections of the book I found most interesting were McKibben’s infrequent diversions to visit his friend and neighbour, Kirk Webster, something of a savant beekeeper in McKibben’s home state, Vermont. As a (very) amateur beekeeper myself, I wanted to know more about how Webster raises his bees and equally as interesting, why? McKibben dips into this question in the very final few pages of his book when he poses the question to Webster of why does he do what he does? Why does he live in near isolation? Nothing dramatic is the result, but he does allude to an earlier illness and a subsequent desire for peace and contemplation, a slowing down of the modern world. Again, not pursued in depth by McKibben but I found his lifestyle and philosophy interesting and it left me wanting more. And again, the discussion of beekeeping is not going to inform anyone hoping to get into the field, but was raised as a teaser on how to live, think and work differently. less

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