Dec 21 2012
Reverend Billy Sounds the Alarm on the Real ‘End of the World’
To many people around the world, today, December 21st, 2012, marks the day the world is expected to end. According to Wikipedia, the “2012 Phenomenon” as it’s called, “is regarded as the end-date of a 5125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae have been proposed as pertaining to this date, though none has been accepted by mainstream scholarship.”
The widely held belief is that the world will end today according to Mayan prophesy. However, scholars of Mayan history and culture and representatives of Mayan communities themselves made it clear that such a belief is a misrepresentation of their calendar.
Whether or not the world will end within the next 15 hours, what most scientists agree on is that for as long as humanity remains on our current course of over-consumption and rapacious exploitation of the earth’s resources, global extinction of our species is a near-certainty in the coming years.
Now, a new book by Billy Talen, aka the Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping, sounds the alarm of the real impending apocalypse in his signature sermon style. Titled simply, The End of the World, Rev. Billy addresses our unquenchable desire to acquire electronic gadgetry – relevant especially during the holiday shopping season, the very real effects of climate change, and our overall abuse of nature. As a New Yorker, Billy also ruminates on the effects of Superstorm Sandy and his participation in the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Barbara Ehrenreich says of Reverend Billy’s new book, “The End of the World is so astonishingly brilliant that it almost hurts to read it, but at the same time wise and loving and full of yearning.”
GUEST: Reverend Billy performs with the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir on the streets of New York and around the world. His earlier book is What Should I do when the Reverend Billy is in my store?
Visit his website at www.revbilly.com.
Click here to find out how you can get a copy of his book.
One Response to “Reverend Billy Sounds the Alarm on the Real ‘End of the World’”
This is an especially interesting and insightful interview with my hero, Reverend Billy. I love his theatrical persona* but it’s very rare to hear him speak in a more straightforward manner.
*His Reverend persona has been an inspiration for me as an activist. The protest sign, which can be seen at my link, was inspired by my hearing one of his sermons.