#32 - Climate Change I: Initial Thought-Crimes
from Increments Hosted by Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani
After the immensely positive response to our previous episode on the Weinstein brothers - thanks @robertwiblin! - we thought we would keep giving the people what they want, and what they want is a long discussion on climate change. Specifically, the subject for today is: "The State of the Climate Debate". We touch on: The near perfect partisan split on climate change Will there be a climate apocalypse? The promise of nuclear energy as a solution The limitations of renewables Energy portfolios The rebound effect Degrowth economics Activist tactics and fear mongering Whether The Environment has become A Deity in environmentalist circles We expect very little pushback on this episode. References Apocalypse Never by Michael Shellenberger. Greta Thunberg encouraging you to panic Thunberg's double crossing of the Atlantic in sailboat The Rebound Effect Quotes But real climate solutions are ones that steer these interventions to systematically disperse and devolve power and control to the community level, whether through community-controlled renewable energy, local organic agriculture or transit systems genuinely accountable to their users. -- Naomi Klein in the Nation Even if nuclear power were clean, safe, economic, assured of ample fuel, and socially benign, it would still be unattractive because of the political implications of the kind of energy economy it would lock us into. -- Amory Lovins, quoted from Forbes piece by Michael Shellenberger Send us panic-induced email at [email protected].
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Chapters
- 0:00 Cold open: acid rain
- 0:15 Main segment: state of the climate debate
- 3:28 Why is climate politics so partisan?
- 10:57 Naomi Klein, capitalism, and nuclear opposition
- 14:16 Energy and developing nations
- 19:56 Energy density, reliability, and trade-offs
- 26:35 The rebound effect and lifestyle changes
- 32:37 Greta Thunberg and activist panic tactics
- 36:36 Media fear cycles and IPCC distillation
- 42:43 Shellenberger on money and lobbying
- 46:00 Environmentalism as religion
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