Craig C. Clarke made one of the all-time great comments about delayers and deniers over at Media Matters:

1. If you are concerned about global warming but haven’t reduced your energy usage to zero, you are a hypocrite.
2. Therefore it’s obvious that the only way to not be a hypocrite is to not care about global warming.
3. Since you care about gobal warming and I don’t, it then naturally follows that I am more moral than you.
4. The more vociferously I show my disdain for global warming concerns, the more I flaunt my consumption, the more moral I become.

Reader support helps sustain our work. Donate today to keep our climate news free. All donations DOUBLED!

Goodness, it’s a wonderful world. Unrestrained capitalism, deregulation, global warming denial, “the earth is here for us to use up until the rapture…”

Isn’t it such a wonderful coincidence that obviously the best, most moral course in all matters is to act totally out of Randian self-interest, with no empathy; like a glutton or a sociopath … and I just so happen to be a selfish prick?

Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.

To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. Here's How