At the 2025 Mountain Towns 2030 Summit in Breckenridge, CO, renowned environmentalist, author, and 350.org founder Bill McKibben delivered a powerful and sobering keynote address, urging mountain communities to act decisively in the fight against climate change.
He also shared his hope and optimism about the future, grounded in the rapid transition to clean energy.
\u201cIn the last 36 months, there\u2019s been a sudden, dramatic, explosive surge in the use of clean energy from the sun and wind and batteries around the world,\u201d he said. \u201cOver that period, we\u2019ve hit, suddenly, the steep part of a fast ascending curve.\u201d
In fact, new data shows that for the first half of this year, for the first time around the world, solar power provided more energy than coal-fired power. \u201cWe may have finally hit the peak of our combustion of fossil fuels and started down the other side,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if we have, it is an extraordinary watershed for human beings.\u201d