Marcos’s Recent Comments

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Carl Leads Off On the Wrong Foot

  At the very outset of his lengthy review/criticism/response to Nordhaus and Shellenberger, Carl Pope commits an error that epitomizes much of the mis-read of the so-called Bad Boys of Environmentalism.

  Carl writes that the authors "predicted that the cause in which I've worked most of my life was about to gasp a grim last breath." No, importantly, the Bad Boys didn't say it would die, but that it should die.

  But what should die? They suggest that fundamental aspects of the political philosophy that underlie the movement and a whole series of tactics must die so that, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, a more expansive and effective movement can continue to emerge.

  Clearly the way they frame their argument is designed to provoke. Yet, I think the point of the provocation isn't to denigrate the movement, but to provide a jarring hook that: A. captures attention and causes us to hear their deeper arguments and B. creates a shock to the system that unfreezes our thinking and causes us to question taken for granted assumptions that inform how we think about and carry out our work. On Carl Pope reviews Break Through by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger posted 2 years ago 14 Responses