Apocalypse Never
Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All by Michael Shellenberger
My coffee cup rating 5/5:
☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️
Climate change is something I've been studying for a while now. Although there is a lot of climate information out there, the actual science of climate change is far from exact. In fact, many of the catastrophic climate deadlines experts warned us about decades ago have come and gone. Yet fear-based apocalyptic predictions keep on coming-especially in recent years. This spurred me to ask the question, are any of these claims actually based on science? Is the world really going to end in 12 years? Enter Michael Shellenberger’s new book, Apocalypse Never.
Shellenberger has an impressive resume in the environmental community and has devoted his career to the cause. He's also devoted to science. In many of the conclusions found in his book, Michael professes he has previously disagreed with. This brings me to the most important takeaway I got from Apocalypse Never, you have to be open to changing your mind. As Shellenberger stresses, science will continually move forward, new information will come out, and we need to be open to adjusting our viewpoint on issues. We can’t, as many activists and politicians have, mold science to fit our agenda. Shellenberger gives many examples of this, but most notable to me was the State of California.
California has a reputation for being one of the greenest and forward-looking states in the US. So I was surprised to learn that since the 1960s, many governors were financially invested in big oil interests. Not only that, but they used their power to shut down any competition. Many times under the guise of environmental laws. The double standard here is appalling.
Another talking point in the book revolves around renewable energy. Many of our solutions [mainly solar and wind] for creating a green economy sound great, but if you actually scale up these ideas based on the numbers, they are just not feasible. Renewables have a very low power density compared to our current power generating fuels, and they take up much more land. Not only that, renewables are intermittent, which require a backup plan for when the sun doesn't shine, and the wind doesn’t blow. That's why many gas and oil companies get behind renewables because they need backup power. And for most of the grid, the go-to fuel is natural gas. So what is the best zero-emission option then? Shellenberger believes it’s Nuclear.
Nuclear is another prominent topic in the book and, as Shellenberger explains, is one of the best options to reduce pollution from the energy sector. Although Nuclear, as Shellenberger argues, is much safer than people think, that hasn’t stopped the onslaught of bad press and misinformation. Much of this stems from a genuine fear of nuclear weapons and radiation, which has been amplified by environmental activist groups. Not to mention, one of nuclear's biggest haters, The Sierra Club, has taken money from big oil. No conflict of interest here...
Say what you will about plastics and oil, but one thing is certain, it’s saved countless animals from complete destruction. For example, at the turn of the 18th century, whaling was big business. We used whales for many things including lighting oil, soaps, and machine lubricants. If it wasn’t for the switch to petroleum products, whales could have easily gone extinct. The invention of plastic also replaced the ivory industry, saving countless elephants and tortoises. As Shellenberger says, "we save nature by not using it.” This goes against most environmentalist's belief of only using natural products. It's an intriguing point of view, and quite frankly, something that necessitates a place in the green discussion.
There are many other issues that Shellenberger covers, like vegetarianism, fish farming, the meat industry, and global warming, to name a few. This book has opened my eyes to how much one viewpoint dominates the climate discussion. Whether or not I concur with everything in this book is beside the point. We need a climate revolution of sorts that allows open and honest discussion about the facts, issues, and problems facing humanity, now and in the future. Thanks, Michael for being at the forefront of this discussion. For there is hope for our world and a lot of it.