Tuesday, September 10, 2013

What Joe Romm said about Naomi Klein's 'you're with me or you're against the planet' argument


That is all.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

As Joe Romm says, Big Green isn't responsible for the failure of more climate friendly policies. Big oil and gas have no greater friend than the Obama administration, all of their whining notwithstanding.

Taylor B

THE CLIMATE WARS said...

-1 on Joe--

Hype kills.

Anonymous said...

Bah! Hype isn't an issue raised by Ms. Klein, at least not in the excerpts of her interview I read in Romm's piece. You might not like Romm's style, but I've found that his critics' allegations of "hype" are more frequent than substantiated.

The substance of Romm's piece is in some respects less "alarmist" than Klein's when he argues that addressing carbon emissions doesn't require the complete abandonmnent of our current economic system. Romm: "But I don’t agree with Anderson that 'getting to the emissions reduction levels that we need to get to in the developed world is not compatible with economic growth' — mainly because the literature, as well as my own experience helping companies reduce carbon pollution for two decades, doesn’t support that view..." One can have a separate argument about whether our economic system is compatible with a sustainable future, but it's hard to portray Romm's viewpoint as "hype" in this regard.

In this piece, Romm makes well supported arguments, with specific examples of why he disagrees with some of Ms. Klein's statements. You might have equally valid counter-arguments, and in fact I agree with Ms. Klein's criticisms of some of the enviro groups being too accommodating toward business interests, yet I don't blame them or Romm for the failure of better climate policies. You could at least try to articulate your criticism of Romm and stick to the subject, instead of making an irrelevant, sweeping remark. Irrelevance kills, too.

Taylor B

Susan Anderson said...

Thanks Taylor B, you speak for me

I'm seeing a lot of this infighting. It's catnip to industrial-strength distractionalism.

I don't know much about Klein's recent climate work, support 350.org, and think Joe Romm is solid gold and has every right to be exhausted as the molasses gets thicker.

I do wonder, since she's recently had a baby, if her relatively new engagement makes her think she know more than she does. If she'd been in the trenches about this as long as Joe, she might reconsider.

Same goes for people who should know better joining the attack movement on Al Gore.

Anonymous said...

misrepresentation and lies kill a lot more.
RJR tobacco ties, Marshall FND, etc