Media Advisory
Contact: Marie Tanao, [email protected] , 090-2183-2113
350.org Co-Founder and author Bill McKibben’s Upcoming Visit to Japan
April 24, 2018
On May 10-11, 350.org Co-Founder, environmentalist, and bestselling author of Deep Economy and The End of Nature, Bill McKibben, will visit Tokyo to convey the importance of a “Fossil Free” Asia Pacific and participate in a series of events with Japanese stakeholders, including government officials and civil society leaders.
Through public lectures and in meetings with key decision-makers in government and finance, Mr. McKibben will discuss the latest trends in the global movement toward divestment from fossil fuels including the recent decision by the City of New York to divest its pension fund and take the 5 biggest oil companies to court for their role in causing global climate change. He will also discuss how Japanese public and private financial organizations’ continuing support for coal development directly contradicts Japan’s commitment to the Paris Agreement through highlighting an international petition launched by 350.org Japan in late April to call on Japan’s three major financial groups to stop financing new coal developments in line with keeping global warming below 1.5-2 degrees Celsius.
In 2012, Mr. McKibben spearheaded the global campaign for fossil fuel divestment as a bottom-up approach to tackling the challenge of climate change. As of today, 852 institutions and 58,000 individuals have joined the movement to divest from fossil fuels and invest in climate solutions. Together they represent over 6 trillion dollars in assets. Mr. McKibben is also closely involved in New York City’s climate change lawsuit against five major U.S. oil producers.
On Friday May 11, 350.org Japan will host a press briefing with Mr. McKibben speaking on the subject of the decarbonization movement among citizens, local governments, and companies. Your attendance and participation in the events detailed below is appreciated. For interview requests, please contact Marie Tanao, 350.org Japan Communications Coordinator, at [email protected].
Events Schedule
1) Bill McKibben Special Seminar — The Front-Lines of the Climate Change Movement: Energy Policy in the Trump Administration and Impacts of U.S. Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement
Overview: In this special seminar, Bill McKibben discusses the impacts of climate change and trends in civil society movements to oppose the Trump Administration’s energy and environment policies. In Part 2 of this event, Mr. McKibben will be joined by Tokyo University Professor Emeritus Ryoichi Yamamoto and Kiko Network Chairperson Kimiko Hirata for a discussion on Japan’s climate change policies
Register here: https://goo.gl/forms/tQPmcs9ZsGqKOIfh1
Date and Time: Thursday, May 10, 7:00-9:00 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.)
Venue: Waterras Common
2-101 Kanda Awajicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo 101-0063
Hosting Organization: 350.org Japan
Fee: 1500 yen general / 1000 yen student (light food and drink provided)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/215405905886641/
*Interpretation will be provided for Mr. McKibben, who will deliver his remarks in English.
2) Press Briefing — The Movement Towards Decarbonisation Led by Citizens, Local Governments, and Companies in Opposition to the Trump Administration
Overview: Bill McKibben will host an exclusive briefing event for media organizations about New York City’s recent decision to divest from coal and fossil-fuel and its lawsuit against five major oil companies.
Register here: https://goo.gl/forms/tQPmcs9ZsGqKOIfh1
Date and Time: Friday, May 11, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Venue: B1F Hall, Toranomon Arche
1-1-21 Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo 105-0001
*Light food will be provided.
3) Talk Event — Bill McKibben meets Shinichi Tsuji: A Conversation Between Environmentalists on the Importance of Local Action
Overview: The theme of the event will be the growing grassroots actions taken towards preventing climate change. The event will take place at Zenryoji Temple, the first Japanese temple to divest its bank account. Bill McKibben will be giving a talk on the state of the fossil fuel divestment movement followed by a talk between him and Professor Shinichi Tsuji on actions needed at a local level to solve the climate crisis .
Register here: https://goo.gl/forms/tQPmcs9ZsGqKOIfh1
Date and Time: Friday, May 11, 7:00-9:00 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.)
Venue: Zenryoji Temple
125 Yabe-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 244-0002
Hosting Organization: 350.org Japan
Fee: 1000 yen general / 500 yen student
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/558328317872914/
*Interpretation will be provided for Mr. McKibben, who will deliver his remarks in English.
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About Bill McKibben
Bill McKibben is an author and environmentalist who in 2014 was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the ‘alternative Nobel.’ His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages; he’s gone on to write a dozen more books. He is a founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, which has organized twenty thousand rallies around the world in every country save North Korea, spearheaded the resistance to the Keystone Pipeline, and launched the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement.
The Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he was the 2013 winner of the Gandhi Prize and the Thomas Merton Prize, and holds honorary degrees from 18 colleges and universities. Foreign Policy named him to their inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers, and the Boston Globe said he was “probably America’s most important environmentalist.”
A former staff writer for the New Yorker, he writes frequently for a wide variety of publications around the world, including the New York Review of Books, National Geographic, and Rolling Stone. He lives in the mountains above Lake Champlain with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, where he spends as much time as possible outdoors . In 2014, biologists honored him by naming a new species of woodland gnat— Megophthalmidia mckibbeni–in his honor.
(Taken from http://www.billmckibben.com/bio.html)
350.org Japan
350.org Japan was established in April 2015 as the Japan office of 350.org, a global environmental organization. 350.org Japan is working to spread fossil fuel divestment in Japan, mainly through the My Bank My Future campaign. 350.org Japan is creating a people-driven movement to demand banks adopt sustainable investment policies that keep global warming well below 1.5-2℃ — a target codified in the Paris Agreement. 350.org’s global network extends to more than 180 countries. For more information please visit: http://350.org/ja