Forbes – John Tierney Channels Julian Simon, Debunks Environmental Gloom and Doom

The end is not near, the doomsayers are consistently wrong, and Mother Gaia will not punish us for being human

The idea that we’re running out of natural resources seems obvious, though untrue. How can that be? Resolving this conundrum requires understanding why human ingenuity is the Ultimate Resource, as the late economist Julian Simon called it in his classic book by that name. First published in 1981, its insights remain valuable today.

For an in-depth look into Julian Simon’s legacy, we turn to John Tierney, longtime New York Times columnist, science writer, co-author of Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, and winner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s 2014 Julian L. Simon Memorial Award. He holds court this week on RealClear Radio Hour.

Over the last three decades, Tierney has made a career out of calmly and patiently deconstructing the new religion of environmentalism, the politically correct worship of “pristine” Mother Earth, and the notion that the world is going to hell in a hand basket unless we all repent, and soon. With facts at his side, Tierney has long provided a strong antidote to the fear mongering that passes for science reporting these days. And how he arrived at his insights makes for a great story.

To read the rest of the column at Forbes.com click here.