Breakthrough

Gregg Easterbrook reviewed Break Through in the new, very good progressive policy journal Democracy. It's a great review from a very good reporter.

In Break Through, an urgent, engaging work, Nordhaus and Shellenberger sail through the fog of instant-doomsday pessimism to show that environmental reforms succeed, are affordable, help the economy, and tangibly improve people's lives...

While others deny the climate change threat or squabble over whose ox should be gored, Nordhaus and Shellenberger are right to look to human ingenuity for the big breakthroughs that will make the impossible possible.

Later, Gregg makes his critique of our book. While every reviewer needs to offer a book's downside, we found Gregg's criticism odd.

While exhibiting keen insight, Break Through falters by offering few concrete proposals.

We're happy to be criticized -- that's the whole point of laying out a set of big ideas into a book. What's disappointing is to not be engaged on the substance of our proposals. Without giving away too many surprises, Break Through is filled with very specific recommendations. For instance, we offer proposals to:

1. Accelerate prosperity in Brazil while also protecting the Amazon forest. (Concrete proposal: "Eliminate the Dictatorship Debt" -- discussed in chapter 2, "The Forest for the Trees," and 10, "Greatness")

2. Advance health care reform in the U.S. in a way that speaks to how middle-class Americans with health insurance think about government and the uninsured. (Discussed in chapter 6 -- "Status and Security.")

3. Pass win-win legislation on higher fuel economy standards that are also good for the American auto industry. (Proposal name: "Health Care for Hybrids" -- actual legislation in Congress -- chapter 9, "Pragmatism.")

4. Accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy that deals with global warming much faster than regulatory limits alone and that creates millions of new jobs everywhere from Akron to Guangzhou to Frankfurt. (Proposal name: "New Apollo Project" -- actual legislation in Congress -- both in the introduction and in chapter 10).

5. Prepare for future global warming disasters in such a way that inspires confidence as well as a commitment to future action. (Concrete policy: "Global Warming Preparedness" -- in chapter 9, "Pragmatism).

And that's just for starters. There's much else in chapters such as "Belonging and Fulfillment" that have seemingly nothing but also everything to do with politics and ecological crisis. You can agree or disagree with these proposals -- but there's no denying that they're in the book, and are extensively discussed in concrete detail.