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An Environmental Paradigm Shift

Posted at 1:35 PM on October 15, 2007 by Steve Seel (25 Comments)

If you heard any of the announcements we were running the last couple of weeks, you know that our next "Policy and a Pint" event is about environmentalism -- specifically, authors Ted Nordhaus' and Michael Shellenberger's call for a radical change in the way we approach the problem of global warming, as expressed in their essay "The Death of Environmentalism" and their new book "Breakthrough." Their point is, essentially, the traditional environmentalist approach focused on the proscribing of what they call "negative" concepts like "restrict," "curb," "cap" and so forth is doomed to fail because it flies in the face of traditional American "character values" which are fundamentally positive -- like growth, expansion, and striving. In order for global warming to be slowed and/or stopped, they argue, we will have to develop a visionary politics that embraces clean energy on a scale far, far surpassing anything we're currently talking about. And the only way to do that is to get the American people on board on a mass scale -- their tax money is going to be significantly re-routed to new projects and incentives, after all.

It seems like a stance practically guaranteed to make traditional enviros angry, or at least suspicious. One of my first reactions to their book was annoyance at the implication that the American values of growth and expansion were the "real" ones, the only ones; it seemed like a capitulation to a right-wing framing that ignored entire sections of the American character. Wasn't the collective public sacrifice of the World War II years, for example, just as much a reflection of an "American value?" (Or, come to think of it, is that something relegated entirely to the past now -- in which case, are the authors on to something by recognizing the one collective "national trait" that can bring us together in this time of crisis?) Either way, I read the book with interest and an increasingly receptive mind -- and happy that their ideas were getting a larger platform so that they could be incorporated into this critical discussion about a pressing and urgent problem.

This week's "Policy and a Pint" with Michael Shellenberger (one half of the duo) is sold out, but doors will open at 5:30 and you can be added to the waiting list. We still want you to be a part of the conversation one way or another, however -- and the more voices the better. Head over here to join the fray.

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An Environmental Paradigm Shift

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