Friday 14 October 2022

“Anti-Energy Nihilism Behind Economic Crisis” || Shellenberger

US and UK climate activists. Greta
Michael Shellenberger is himself a Time Magazine "Hero of the Environment", multiple enviro-awardee and long-tims climate activist. He's also driven by the data and the science. I have to preface like this because many on the climate activist side would hammer him just because what he says doesn't fit into the narrative. The catastrophist narrative. 
Datawise, Shellenberger says the figures show no increase in droughts in Europe, no increase in floods in Pakistan, no increase in wildfires in California. And a while back I showed the figures for hurricane landfalls in the US, again trending, if anything, slightly down with costs per down and deaths from sharply down. 
And yet we have climate catastrophism, and any push back to the catastrophist narrative is deemed "climate denial" (as if that phrase makes any sense). 
Shellenberger is at pains to acknowledge that human-caused climate change is real and must be addressed. It's how it's addressed that's now the question. Amongst the many ways not to address it, is to close nuclear power plants. As pre-teen Greta Thunberg advised. Then start a war with Ukraine, get less gas from Russia and change back to coal. Brill …

ADDED: Shellenberger's latest book is San Fransicko, looking at the homeless issue with a deep dive in his home town San Francisco. Why has homelessness become so much worse? What to do about it? He has answers, learning from experience. He tried for CA governorship, but was beaten by the incumbent Gavin Newsome. Who has no answers save doubling down on failed policies. But also has the mighty money machine of the Democratic Party to make sure an upstart independent doesn't get in. Oh dear.