Thread by @billmckibben

An overlong thread of personal info, with one or two twists at the end.
First piece of 'news': I'm starting a free substack newsletter of my very own. It's going to be called The Crucial Years, because--well...here we are, between a rock and a hot place

billmckibben.substack.com

That means today's installment of my New Yorker "Climate Crisis" will be the last, though I'll still write regularly for the magazine. So many thanks to everyone--esp. Virginia Cannon--who made it a pleasure, and to all those I got to pass the mic to!
newyorker.com/news/annals-of…

So why am I joining @emorwee, @EricHolthaus , @drvolts, and so many others who pioneered this new form? In part because I'm also swinging back to more organizing. In fact, consider this the announcement of a *very* soft launch for ThirdAct.org
thirdact.org

We're going to try and organize 'experienced Americans'--i.e., people over 60 like me--around issues of climate justice, racial justice, economic justice. Our generations have done their share of damage; we're on the verge of leaving the world a worse place than we found it.

But we also have the skills and resources to help make change. If you go to ThirdAct.org you'll see leaders like @SenSanders @GretaThunberg @Janefonda @RevYearwood and Robin Wall Kimmerer making the case for why we need older people fully engaged in this fight.

There are already some great organizations, by the way: @eldersclimate, @OldBroads4Wild. But we need far more. The first act for many in these generations was pretty great: they inspired or witnessed profound change. Now we need the Third Act to be as sweet.

Anyway, though my substack newsletter will be free, there will be a way to pay money, and my share of those subscriptions will go to help fund ThirdAct.org. In return you'll get to read my new book, which I'm going to release in serial form, a new chunk every Friday.

It's not my normal doom and gloom. Instead, it's the prequel/sequel to my only novel, the oddly popular Radio Free Vermont. nytimes.com/2017/12/08/boo…

This time, however, none of the action's in Vermont--it takes place all over the world, and I've borrowed everyone from the Pope to the Dalai Lama as characters. Basically, it's an attempt to make nonviolent movements as interesting as violent ones.

Anyway, all of these announcements are of a piece. We need more organizing--I've been writing, and will keep doing so, about everyone's great plans for change. But it is going to require more people coming together to make those ideas real. So we shall organize!

Finally, enormous thanks to Vanessa Arcara, and for the long roster of people who have been advising ThirdAct.org It's going to take us a while to really get going--but if you're good at the essential tasks of building an org., please get involved now!