How a Climate Doomsayer Became an Unexpected Optimist
Reveal
The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
4.7 • 8.7K Ratings
🗓️ 31 December 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
More To The Story: Bill McKibben isn’t known for his rosy outlook on climate change. Back in 1989, the environmentalist wrote The End of Nature, which is considered the first mainstream book warning of global warming’s potential effects on the planet. His writing on climate change has been described as “dark realism.” But McKibben has recently let a little light shine through thanks to the dramatic growth of renewable energy, particularly solar power. In his latest book, Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization, McKibben argues that the planet is experiencing the fastest energy transition in history from fossil fuels to solar and wind—and that transition could be the start of something big. On this week’s More To The Story, McKibben sits down with host Al Letson to examine the rise of solar power, how China is leapfrogging the United States in renewable energy use, and the real reason the Trump administration is trying to kill solar and wind projects around the country.
Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Copy editor: Nikki Frick with help from Digital producer: Artis Curiskis | Deputy executive producer: Taki Telonidis | Executive producer: Brett Myers | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al Letson
Listen: Will the National Parks Survive Trump? (Reveal)
Read: Rooftop Solar Is a Miracle. Why Are We Killing It With Red Tape? (Mother Jones)
Read: Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization (W.W. Norton & Company)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | For a very long time, all my life, we've called this stuff alternative energy. |
| 0:08.0 | And it's sort of been there on the fringe, like maybe it's not real big boy energy the way that oil and gas is. |
| 0:15.0 | I think we've tended to think of it as the whole foods of energy. |
| 0:21.4 | It's like nice, but it's pricey. |
| 0:23.9 | It's the Costco of energy now. |
| 0:26.4 | Coming up on more to the story, |
| 0:28.0 | we bring you a conversation recorded earlier this year |
| 0:30.8 | with environmentalist Bill McKibben |
| 0:32.9 | on why the answer to all of our energy problems |
| 0:36.6 | is literally right above us. |
| 0:39.1 | That's right. |
| 0:39.7 | We're bringing you some end-of-the-year rays of hope. |
| 0:42.5 | Don't go anywhere. |
| 0:57.3 | This is more to the story. |
| 0:58.2 | I'm Al Letson. |
| 1:01.0 | This conversation was recorded earlier this year. |
| 1:05.9 | Environmentalist Bill McKibbon isn't known for a sunny outlook on climate change. |
| 1:09.3 | But Bill seems to have turned a corner with his new book. |
| 1:10.5 | Here comes the sun. a last chance for the |
| 1:12.3 | climate and a fresh chance for civilization. It's an optimistic look at a renewable energy |
| 1:18.1 | solution staring us right in the face. A solution that countries like China and Australia are |
| 1:23.9 | making both affordable and accessible. In contrast, the Trump administration is rolling back |
... |
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