No hay apocalipsis

Michael Shellenberger has been fighting for a greener planet for decades. He helped save the last redwoods in the world. He participated in the precedent of the current new green deal. And he led a successful initiative by scientists and climate activists to keep nuclear plants running and avoid spike in emissions. But in 2019, while some claimed that "billions of people are going to die", generating enormous anxiety among the public, Shellenberger decided that, after a life as an environmental activist, as an energy expert and the father of a teenage girl, he had to manifest to separate science from fiction. Because, in most developed countries, carbon emissions have been falling for more than a decade after reaching their peak. Deaths due to extreme weather conditions, even in poor nations, have dropped 80 percent in the past four decades. And the risk of the Earth heating up to very high temperatures is increasingly unlikely, thanks to slowing population growth and the abundance of natural gas. What's really behind the rise of apocalyptic environmentalism? Powerful financial interests. Desire for status and power. But above all there is a desire for transcendence among supposedly secular people. This spiritual boost can be natural and healthy. But by preaching fear without love, and guilt without redemption, the new religion is failing to meet our deepest psychological and existential needs.