We don't need to fight about climate science any more

In this week’s newsletter, I get into the victory-circling being done by climate skeptics over the retirement of RCP-8.5 — the catastrophic model that informed the worst fears about sea level rise, melting glaciers, and other climate impacts. The model’s demise is largely about the success of renewable technologies and the extent to which they’ve shifted us off the most aggressive path for future warming, but it’s also a reminder to climate advocates about the dangers of overstating their case — and the futility of fear-based appeals.

But here’s the key takeaway: we don’t have to talk about climate science any more. The battle is no longer about convincing voters to make near-term sacrifices in the name of longer-term benefits. Instead, it’s about embracing the cost and energy security advantages being offered by clean technologies like solar, wind and batteries, ones that will only get larger as their costs get lower. Now, the real costs associated with clean energy and other technologies that fight climate change will come from moving too slowly.

Also this week: why the case for more Canadian LNG keeps getting weaker by the day, and some thoughts about the real purpose (and meaning) of social media.

Read it here.