A recent video posted on Twitter by John Stossel describes his war with Facebook “fact checkers,” who deboosted and put a warning onto his video about forest fires. When he finally gained access to the fact checking organization, called “Climate Feedback,” they acknowledged that his video was unfairly censored. So what happened?

The scientist at Climate Feedback, Stefan Doerr, who to his credit was willing to speak with Stossel about this, said the video was probably flagged because Stossel interviewed Michael Shellenberger.” Or as Doerr put it, “my assumption is that because Shellenberger pops up in there, and his statements have basically been shown to be partially wrong…”

“Partially wrong.”

On the other hand, “partially wrong” in this case also means “mostly right.” Shellenberger’s recently published book Apocalypse Never, makes a complicated but compelling case. It isn’t alarmist pablum. It’s also extremely important. Because the path of international development we’re currently on, which denies prosperity to billions of people in order to prevent “climate change,” is a recipe for ongoing population growth, poverty, misery, war, and tangible, horrific environmental destruction.

Shellenberger’s crime, which has earned him the unanimous and bitter enmity of the climate industrial complex, was to argue that (1) climate change, while real, is not leading towards an ecological catastrophe, (2) development of industry and infrastructure in Africa and other developing regions will prevent further environmental degradation, and (3) nuclear power is an unfairly maligned, safe and nearly inexhaustible source of energy.

Don’t think so? Read the book. One thing’s for certain. You won’t hear much good online about Shellenberger, or his book. The censors have seen to that.

As for the fires in California? Of course they were the result of bad forestry. Stossel, and Shellenberger, are absolutely correct to emphasize that as the cause. Sure, rising temperatures played a role, but those fires would have been cataclysmic even if it were a few degrees cooler, because for nearly a century natural fires were not allowed to burn, and environmentalists destroyed the timber industry, prevented mechanical thinning, and litigated to stop controlled burns.

Mismanagement was undoubtedly the bigger cause. Environmentalists lose credibility every time they pretend otherwise. But you’ll never know, unless you get past the censors.

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