Environmentalism’s ‘Anti-Industrial Revolution’

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Keith Lockitch discuss the underlying philosophical issues that permeate today’s debate over energy and the environment.

Among the topics covered:

• Why it’s a mistake to use the current crisis in Texas to boost policy agendas, especially “green” energy policies;
• Ayn Rand’s view of the environmentalist movement as an outgrowth of the New Left;
• Why environmentalist ideology is not focused primarily on human welfare;
• Environmentalism’s history of unscientific, apocalyptic predictions and its resemblance to religion;
• Why coercive environmentalist policies are no solution to real environmental problems;
• Why it’s a mistake to take technology for granted when environmentalist policies would take it away;
• The prescience of Ayn Rand’s analysis of the environmentalist movement and its ideas.

Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Anti-Industrial Revolution” in her book Return of the Primitive; the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on the “New Left”; and Keith Lockitch’s essays “The Green New Deal: A War Against Energy” and “Climate Vulnerability and the Indispensable Value of Industrial Capitalism”

This podcast was recorded on February 24, 2021. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

Podcast audio: