"Doomsayers like Al Gore and Jared Diamond aren't doing the environment much good. To save the earth, we need to stop blaming and start celebrating ourselves." Thus spake Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, joining Bjorn Lomborg on the clap-harder, power-of-positivity train. This is rapidly becoming my most hated meme.
But the facts also tell us that global temperatures have fluctuated wildly over the five billion years that the planet has existed; that there have been at least five previous mass extinctions during the history of the planet; that asteroids, comets, volcanoes, and ice ages have dramatically changed the climate and habitat at a planetary level; that the earth will very likely be here for billions of years after all traces of humanity have vanished from its surface; and that some form of humanity and human society will likely survive the ecological crises we face.Listen, part of this paragraph is not like the other—I shouldn't have to tell anyone that human society as we know it has surely not weathered asteroids, comets, mass extinctions, or ice ages—and the delicious vagueness of "some form of humanity will likely survive" includes a lot of rough, ugly territory for your poor children and grandchildren to have to live through.
But I don't want to bring down the vibe. I do believe in fairies. I don't want Tinkerbell to die.
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