Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All

Now a National Bestseller!

Climatechange is real but it's not the end of the world. It is not even our mostserious environmental problem.

Michael Shellenberger has been fighting for agreener planet for decades. He helped save the world's last unprotectedredwoods. He co-created the predecessor to today's Green New Deal. And he led asuccessful effort by climate scientists and activists to keep nuclear plants operating, preventing a spike of emissions.

But in 2019, as some claimed "billions ofpeople are going to die," contributing to rising anxiety, including amongadolescents, Shellenberger decided that, as a lifelong environmental activist, leading energy expert, and father of a teenage daughter, he needed to speak outto separate science from fiction.

Despite decades of news media attention, manyremain ignorant of basic facts. Carbon emissions peaked and have been decliningin most developed nations for over a decade. Deaths from extreme weather, evenin poor nations, declined 80 percent over the last four decades. And the riskof Earth warming to very high temperatures is increasingly unlikely thanks toslowing population growth and abundant natural gas.

Curiously, the people who are the mostalarmist about the problems also tend to oppose the obvious solutions.

What's really behind the rise of apocalypticenvironmentalism? There are powerful financial interests. There are desires forstatus and power. But most of all there is a desire among supposedly secularpeople for transcendence. This spiritual impulse can be natural and healthy.But in preaching fear without love, and guilt without redemption, the newreligion is failing to satisfy our deepest psychological and existential needs.