Bjorn Yesterday: NY Times Runs Op-Ed Asserting Poor People Need More Carbon Pollution -- by Joe Romm

So the New York Times shuts down its environment desk and its Green Blog this year — a move widely panned as “a horrible decision.”  Then last week, the Times‘ public editor publishes a damning analysis showing that the paper’s climate coverage had dropped sharply.

The paper’s response?  Devote some of its scarce op-ed space to the umpteenth rehashed Bjorn Lomborg piece touting more carbon pollution and R&D in place of climate action, “The Poor Need Cheap Fossil Fuels.”  If that headline sounds familiar, it’s because Lomborg had pieces in USA Today and National Post making similar arguments.

The notion that more carbon pollution is the best way to help the poor — or that R&D can stop catastrophic climate change — has been widely debunked, most recently here.  As I’ve noted, one analysis just of the impact of unabated temperature rise on food security finds “Half of world’s population could face climate-driven food crisis by 2100.”  Not exactly a boon to the poor.

Bjorn Yesterday:  NY Times Runs Op-Ed Asserting Poor People Need More Carbon Pollution