Ted Nordhaus in the Economist: Green Activists Mislead and Hold Back Progress

Ted Nordhaus is best known for his position that the environmentalism movement is doomed to failure, and that it should be extinguished, so as to allow pure market forces to come along and win the day.

Let’s begin by noting that, in his essay linked above, most of the points he makes are essentially correct.  The burden of decarbonization does fall primarily on the poorest countries, those who benefit most from fossil fuels.  The international agreements to reduce carbon emissions are (currently, at least) weak and unenforceable.

Having said that, what’s the alternative to hard work and the establishment of global cooperation?  Nordhaus says it’s no problem; let’s just turn our civilization’s fate over to the rapacious greed of Big Oil.

If that sounds like a winner to you, I really don’t know what to say.