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  • Apocalypse Never

  • Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All
  • Written by: Michael Shellenberger
  • Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
  • Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (347 ratings)

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Apocalypse Never

Written by: Michael Shellenberger
Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
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Publisher's Summary

Climate change is real, but it’s not the end of the world. It is not even our most serious environmental problem.

Michael Shellenberger has been fighting for a greener planet for decades. He helped save the world’s last unprotected redwoods. He co-created the predecessor to today’s Green New Deal. And he led a successful effort by climate scientists and activists to keep nuclear plants operating, preventing a spike of emissions.

But in 2019, as some claimed "billions of people are going to die", contributing to rising anxiety, including among adolescents, Shellenberger decided that, as a lifelong environmental activist, leading energy expert, and father of a teenage daughter, he needed to speak out to separate science from fiction.

Despite decades of news media attention, many remain ignorant of basic facts. Carbon emissions peaked and have been declining in most developed nations for over a decade. Deaths from extreme weather, even in poor nations, declined 80 percent over the last four decades. And the risk of Earth warming to very high temperatures is increasingly unlikely thanks to slowing population growth and abundant natural gas.

Curiously, the people who are the most alarmist about the problems also tend to oppose the obvious solutions.

What’s really behind the rise of apocalyptic environmentalism? There are powerful financial interests. There are desires for status and power. But most of all, there is a desire among supposedly secular people for transcendence. This spiritual impulse can be natural and healthy. But in preaching fear without love, and guilt without redemption, the new religion is failing to satisfy our deepest psychological and existential needs.

©2020 Michael Shellenberger (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
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What listeners say about Apocalypse Never

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Great read, smooth narrative, thorough discussion.

A good rebuttal to the cataclysmic environmental narrative, providing measured counter arguments to level the panic

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Interesting Read

I work closely with sustainability, this was a good book to challenge my biases on the subject.

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Mark F Sperring

Nicely laid out format. it was just technical enough to inspire confidence but not so much so that I got lost. I noticed a aspect part way through that makes this seem a little more worthy of a listen. I didn't feel like a alleged conspiracy nut for question current narrative on climate. It gave me things I could wrap my head around and research them if I desired.

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informative

good book to listen to, well worth it. I'm sure the tolerant left will love it

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    3 out of 5 stars

Mostly great, not without issues

This book really shines when it’s advocating for conservation and the development of historically poorer nations. Wealthy nations and their NGOs so often are searching for quick and press friendly wins in their quest for climate supremacy.

But for a couple of things I know more about I.e. nuclear and renewables the book really falls short. Shellenberger’s nuclear maximalist attitudes are dangerous. Especially while renewables do present safe and viable options. Shellenberger also glosses over and even reframed the issue with nuclear waste as a benefit. Highlighting that nuclear waste is just stored on-site at nuclear power plants. This is not a boon, it is a severe problem. Nuclear also carries extreme risk. There have 3 incidents globally in the history of nuclear and they have been so bad that public opinion has soured. Can you imagine 4-5 Fukushimas? At what point do we normalize irradiated lands around failed plants. He also never spoke in-depth about the issues with lithium ion batteries and technological lock-in because those are the current batteries that we have running at scale. Last Shellenberger failed to mention that nuclear suffers from the same high utilization issues as wind and solar. Costs increase exponentially as utilization reaches 100%. There’s also lots of innovation going on in the nuclear space, like nuclear batteries, and pocket reactors.

Our energy future should be a mix of mostly renewables in lower and medium density areas, while spike demand is covered by natural gas for the medium areas and liquid petroleum for the lowest density remote areas. For high density cities, nuclear should be the primary option for heavy industrial activities, while commercial energy use for things like offices can be handled largely by solar and the peak demand in the evening should be handed by a mix of nuclear and wind.

There’s no reason to have these maximalist attitudes towards any one source of energy.

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join the common sense revolution

Michael is informed and delivers an insightful critique into the misinformation around nuclear. fantastic book!

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Must read book for Anyone who cares about the environment

Very well written and researched book, Would highly recommend For anyone that truly wants to help people and the environment and has an optimistic ending.

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very informative

The information in this book is part of the solution to bringing us back together. I would be labeled a climate change denier. I can't take the lies of the climate extremists.

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Eye opening

A truly eye opening examination of the current picture of climate change, and the solutions presented to us.
I feel like Shellenberger took out a rag and cleaning fluid to a dirty window, made so deliberately in order to obscure from us all the real options and the nature of the challenge.
I urge you to listen to this book.

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Balanced Rational Approach

Michael cut to the chase and presented a compelling balanced narrative backed by science and common sense absent the theatrics and panic associated with a the climate emergency storyline. Time well spent.

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