‘COP26 is a neo-feudal performance’
Michael Shellenberger on the staggering arrogance of the green elites.
spiked
8th November 2021
The COP26 climate talks have been defined by brazen hypocrisy. It has escaped few people’s notice that the very same world leaders who have spent the week warning of a CO2-fuelled armageddon arrived in Glasgow on a fleet of private jets. And the very same world leaders calling for us all to cut back on our consumption have been lodging and dining in staggering opulence. So what lies behind this mismatch? And is there more to it than just hypocrisy?
Michael Shellenberger is the founder of Environmental Progress. He is also author of Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All and San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities. He joined Brendan O’Neill for the latest episode of his podcast, The Brendan O’Neill Show. What follows is an edited extract from their conversation. Listen to the full episode here.
Brendan O’Neill: I want to ask you about COP26. The planet is apparently still on fire. We have, I don’t know, eight years, seven years, three years to save the world – I have lost track. There has been a ratcheting up of the kind of apocalypticism that you have previously taken down. You have argued that for too long the climate-change discussion has flitted between the denialists on one side, who think everything is absolutely fine, and the apocalyptics on the other, who think that the world is going to end. What do you think about what’s happening at COP26?
https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/11/08/cop26-is-a-neo-feudal-performance/
