Apocalypse Never
Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
Now a National Bestseller!
Climate change is real but it’s not the end of the world. It is not even our most serious environmental problem.
Michael Shellenberger has been fighting for a greener planet for decades. He helped save the world’s last unprotected redwoods. He co-created the predecessor to today’s Green New Deal. And he led a successful effort by climate scientists and activists to keep nuclear plants operating, preventing a spike of emissions.
But in 2019, as some claimed “billions of people are going to die,” contributing to rising anxiety, including among adolescents, Shellenberger decided that, as a lifelong environmental activist, leading energy expert, and father of a teenage daughter, he needed to speak out to separate science from fiction.
Despite decades of news media attention, many remain ignorant of basic facts. Carbon emissions peaked and have been declining in most developed nations for over a decade. Deaths from extreme weather, even in poor nations, declined 80 percent over the last four decades. And the risk of Earth warming to very high temperatures is increasingly unlikely thanks to slowing population growth and abundant natural gas.
Curiously, the people who are the most alarmist about the problems also tend to oppose the obvious solutions.
What’s really behind the rise of apocalyptic environmentalism? There are powerful financial interests. There are desires for status and power. But most of all there is a desire among supposedly secular people for transcendence. This spiritual impulse can be natural and healthy. But in preaching fear without love, and guilt without redemption, the new religion is failing to satisfy our deepest psychological and existential needs.
Customer Reviews
A combination of all that matters
This book is the first that I’ve found which examines the science and economics of solutions to our environmental challenges. If the reader is willing to question what they know and what they believe then this will help because it looks towards ways to create a brighter future for all humans and animals.
What if everything you were told was a lie?
This is a big, fascinating and sprawling book on a massive grab-bag of topics. Here are a few takeaways.
Use nuclear power, it has a zero carbon footprint and provides ample power for everyone. Be suspicious of wind and solar; it kills birds, and can only supply electricity a fraction of the time it’s needed, at staggering cost. Basically, it has almost no energy density and nuclear power has oodles, enough to let anyone who wants to power up a spiffy Tesla.
Respect the dreams, asperations and desires of poor third world folks. Turns out they could really use some tasty fossil fuel based power. A lot of them have to spend their days collecting firewood, keeping the fire burning and hot enough to cook. It would. transform their lives to get an electric stove and get their food hot with the push of a button.
And for God’s sake don’t listen to the international left. They just want to keep poor countries down so they can justify flying in their $46 million private jets. Which have, by themselves, the carbon footprint of thousands of broke third world people.
Thanks
Facts and no drama. Need more of it.