The wisdom of inaction?

Um .. yeah.

If only the folks who hired this fella had followed his advice.

I see that you noticed my favorite part of Douchebag’s argument:  “Their perspective is grounded, in part, on the assumption that a warmer world will also be a richer world — and that economic development is likely to do more for the wretched of the earth than a growth-slowing regulatory regime.” 

I’m totally sure that all the increased wealth will be spread around to the ‘wretched of the earth,’ just like all the oil and coal wealth has.

You know, I think the crux of the problems facing the US can be summed up this way: instead of shunning the advice of fools, we embrace it.

And by “we” I mean those in power and those in a position to shape discourse.

This man, with his inchoate and ill-conceived “ideas” has no business having a platform where he can share them.

Any rational person knows climate change is a huge problem and the longer we wait, the smaller the window becomes to save our planet. Anyone who does not recognize this should be automatically excluded from any dialogue regarding what might be done to counteract it.

But instead ...

Thanks, Karen Marie. It should definitely be included!

The Seventies were a great decade for apocalyptic enthusiasms, and none was more potent than the fear that human population growth had outstripped the earth’s carrying capacity. According to a chorus of credentialed alarmists, the world was entering an age of sweeping famines, crippling energy shortages, and looming civilizational collapse.

...wait, and get richer, and then try to muddle through. 

I do have to ask though how he expects anyone (other than the usual suspects) to keep getting richer as energy costs continue to rise; what his kids are going to experience in that area, along with the associated social disruption, is going to have more in common with Mad Max than The Fountainhead. 

These morons seem to lack any ability to Think It Through; that as energy becomes harder to obtain (1 mile deep?  How about 2, 3, 4….) it is going too cost more and that extra cost is a drag on productivity.  Anyone remember scarcity and its effect on prices from Econ 101?  Apparently he didn’t take that class. 

I don’t think his idea of “muddle through” is going to be even remotely like the reality of living through it.  He’s a shortsighted, lickspittle moron, doing a fine job of shilling for the ruling class.

...what his kids are going to experience in that area, along with the associated social disruption, is going to have more in common with Mad Max than The Fountainhead. 

Well said. “Thinking it through” is clearly not Douthat’s strong suit. He must have a strong suit somewhere. We just haven’t seen it.

Besides, what if we go through all that trouble to help the environment and make the world a far nicer place to live, and then the most horrific aspects of global warming don’t happen? We would have done all that work for nothing!