Matt Ridley has a long essay in the WSJ, in which he attempts to convince the reader that "Fossil fuels will save the world (really)." Now anyone familiar with Ridley—and his nearly $6 million in annual revenue from the coal mine on his family estate—won't be surprised by the thesis of Ridley's argument: fossil fuels = good, renewables = bad.
Ridley certainly takes his time making this point, though, as the piece clocks in at 2,421 words. While that's a bit too long for us to debunk here, a nice concise takedown is up at the Huffington Post. In essence, Ridley uses the development of the 20th century as a template for the 21st, as though technology doesn't progress and the developing world is required to use the same technology now as developed countries did in the past.
Ridley's recommendation that developing countries rely on fossil fuels not only ignores the public health costs of fossil fuel use, but is blind to the fact that these countries are increasingly turning to renewables to light their world. It's as though Ridley thinks developing countries should invest in telegraphs, while they're already busy buying cell phones.
Making Ridley's rambling particularly ridiculous is the IEA's announcement that in 2014 the world economy grew, while the rate of CO2 emissions did not. This clearly contradicts his assertion that fossil fuels are the only way forward for development.
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