Climate Activists Shouldn't Be Anti-Human

Solving the problem requires faith in the future

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 15, 2009 1:20 AM CST

(Newser) – Many activists battling global warming are doing their cause and their species a disservice by displaying a nihilistic and anti-human attitude, writes Anne Applebaum. Declaring that the end of the world is nigh or pushing for population-reduction initiatives to cut carbon emissions is a "profoundly negative" way to treat the problem, and saps the hope of today's children, Applebaum writes in the Washington Post.

Moving toward renewable energy is a very important goal, Applebaum writes, but it can only be achieved with faith in the future and in humanity's abilities. "A profound change in the nature of human energy consumption is possible, thanks to the entrepreneurship that created the Internet, the compassion that lies behind the advances in modern medicine and the scientific reasoning that sent men into space," Applebaum writes.

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A character dressed as death on horseback rides outside parliament in Copenhagen yesterday. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

A character dressed as death rides past a balloon indicating the volume of one ton of carbon dioxide outside parliament in Copenhagen yesterday. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

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For while it's true that humans are often greedy, stupid and destructive, it's also true that we got to where we are at least partly thanks to human creativity, ingenuity and talent. - Anne Applebaum

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 15 comments

Shannonals

Dec 16, 2009 3:16 AM CST

And the same can be said of the right.

prowlerzee

Dec 15, 2009 12:54 PM CST

Agreed, Eleutherius. And thanks for the info, proud prude. I'm thumbs-upping you two because I have no idea why anyone would negative rate your mildly stated facts.

dj-spellchecka

Dec 15, 2009 10:11 AM CST

applebaum has it backwards...big surprise....the whole point of reducing climate change is to save humanity...if people want massive population reduction, then just let the droughts spread, the sea levels rise , etc, etc..mother earth will do the heavy lifting..and thinking there's a technological alternative energy solution demands "faith in the future and in humanity's abilities."

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Climate Activists Shouldn't Be Anti-Human