Green Books: American Individualism and the Climate Crisis
Via the Work of Bill McKibben
Save the date! On Monday June 22, local writer and activist Kit Stolz will lead the Green Coalition through a discussion of The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon by Bill McKibben, a book about how American prosperity, faith, and patriotism have contributed to the climate crisis and wholesale mounting inequality.
For the last twenty-five years, Kit Stolz has been reporting and writing on climate, community, and culture in Ventura County and southern California for a wide variety of publications, including the Ojai Valley News, the Santa Barbara Independent, the Ventura County Star, Sierra, Wild Earth, and others. During that time he has also served on the board of the Ojai Valley Green Coalition, and led community discussions for the Ojai Chautauqua on fracking, the economy, and immigration.
Stolz and the Green Coalition know that the people of Ojai care deeply about our town, our local environment, and this earth our home. We believe that we can find solutions to the climate crisis and our local environmental issues if we can think together, talk to each other, and reach an understanding. We take inspiration from the many past "environmental" battles that Ojai residents have won, such as preventing the construction of a freeway (101) through town, a landfill/waste dump nearby (Weldon Canyon), and an elite golf course for the super-rich (Farmont), which was intended to be built on land now belonging to the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy.
All of these enormous projects were once believed to be inevitable, but none of them were ever built in Ojai. We have the power to choose our own future, if and when we work together.
The future is unwritten. Let us put our heads together, think it through, and forge a consensus on the best path forward. Please come to join our conversation, which will begin on Monday June 22 at the community room of St. Andrews Church in Ojai. See you there!