Nordhaus and Shellenberger say Priuses and heirloom tomatoes aren't the solution. They're right, but ...
by Jim DiPeso
June 9, 2009
Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, the dour scolds of the environmental movement, have delivered another broadside. We are duly informed that the green bubble has burst.
Their critique says that the economic downturn has pricked the bubble, a cultural artifact inflated by hot air from liberal romantics who pine neurotically for eco-harmony.
These caricatures of environmentalists, we are told, blew up the bubble through what the authors call "positional consumption." They flaunted their Priuses, ate heirloom tomatoes, and screwed in compact fluorescent light bulbs as both penance for their consumption and as a kind of sympathetic magic intended to end the dark age of materialism.
Nordhaus and Shellenberger proclaim thus: "It has become an article of faith among many greens that the global poor are happier with less and must be shielded from the horrors of overconsumption and economic development."
Well, OK, some greens may act and believe as they authors say, and if so, shame on them. But really ... are there that many people who are so lacking in humanity that they wish for our neighbors in Bangladesh, Bolivia, and Burkina Faso to remain afflicted by hunger and disease?
Sorry, but that doesn't pass the manure filter.
To read the full article: http://www.thedailygreen.com/
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