Environmental activist Bill McKibben is known for writing grim volumes like The End of Nature, widely regarded as the first book about climate change. But his latest outing, Radio Free Vermont, is a major departure, a humorous novel about a fugitive radio host who agitates for Vermont to secede from the United States. Global warming is a major theme of Radio Free Vermont, where the main characters, all avid skiers, find themselves trying to cope with an unseasonably warm winter. McKibben has long advocated for more people to use the power of art to tackle climate change.