MIDDLEBURY, VT. — “The Obama administration’s decision to give Shell Oil the go-ahead to drill in the Arctic shows why we may never win the fight against climate change,” writes Bill McKibben in an opinion piece for the New York Times. “Even in this most extreme circumstance, no one seems able to stand up to the power of the fossil fuel industry. No one ever says no.”

McKibben is Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College. In recent years, the author and environmentalist has waged a highly public fight against the Keystone XL pipeline.