Post Carbon Fellow Bill McKibben was interviewed by Bill Moyers following the recent release of an environmental impact study on the impacts of Keystone XL by the State Department.

From the interview:

BILL MOYERS: You’re up against time as a factor, but you’re also up against an enormous financial and political colossus. I mean, I have read that if we stored, if we listened to the scientists and stored 80 percent of the carbon in the ground, we would have to write off assets worth 20 trillion dollars.

BILL MCKIBBEN: Certainly companies would be hurt. But you know, the future on the other side of fossil fuel for normal people is bright. Once you’ve got a solar panel on your house, what do you know, your electricity comes for free. I mean, nobody can meter the sun. That’s what’s so scary to the Exxons of the world.

They’ve got a great deal now. They’ve got, well, they’re the richest companies on Earth. Exxon made more money each of the last four years than any company in the history of money, you know? And it’s because they do not have to pay for the damage that their carbon does in the atmosphere.

Read full transcript