In endorsing this article Steven Pinker has officially backed the idea that we should *keep heating the planet* to 3C, flying in the face of the very science he claims to revere.
Turns out the "new optimists" are not optimistic at all. On the contrary, they exhibit a pessimistic resignation to the status quo, limiting their imaginations to the contours of the business as usual trajectory.
In defense of this position, they insist that it's for the sake of the global poor. "Development," and all that. It would be difficult to overstate the irony of this—elite Americans mansplaining climate catastrophe to the global poor with the claim: "it's for your own good."
Here's an alternative. The richest 1% capture $19 trillion in income *every year*. A fairer distribution of existing global income could end global poverty many times over, ensuring a good life for all, without the need for any additional aggregate global growth.
The global North is overwhelmingly responsible for climate change, while the effects disproportionately damage the South.
What's at stake here is a form of atmospheric colonization. And indeed Europeans used the very same justification for colonialism: "it's for your own good."
What's at stake here is a form of atmospheric colonization. And indeed Europeans used the very same justification for colonialism: "it's for your own good."
