"Malthus May Have Been Less Wrong Than He Was Hasty"

"Regardless, the far right need not wait for future food shortages to cast climate science as a rationale for ultranationalism. Even in our present era of indefensibly ill-distributed abundance, one can credibly claim that the Third World's growing affluence poses an existential threat to our own. After all, China's share of global carbon emissions is twice that of the U.S. and rapidly rising. And while India's carbon footprint is currently relatively small, it's poised to explode in the coming decades, as the Earth's second-most populous country continues to industrialize. If you accept the consensus projections for carbon emissions over the next half-century—but reject the idea that all human lives have inherent value (as, by all appearances, many of our current leaders do)—you can argue somewhat coherently that sustaining the American 'way of life' requires keeping the Global South down."

Eric Levitz at New York worries about a far-right embrace of the politics of climate change.