In the piece Chris flagged below, Paul Krugman wrote yesterday:

But the larger reason we’re ignoring climate change is that Al Gore was right: This truth is just too inconvenient. Responding to climate change with the vigor that the threat deserves would not, contrary to legend, be devastating for the economy as a whole. But it would shuffle the economic deck, hurting some powerful vested interests even as it created new economic opportunities. And the industries of the past have armies of lobbyists in place right now; the industries of the future don’t.

The real inconvenient truth is that columnists like Krugman never attack their own industry for its role in the so called climate crisis. Do we need print editions of newspapers and their carbon-spewing delivery methods in Krugman’s green-world order? Maybe Krugman will accept compensation based on online clicks only? Then again, our computers use coal-fired electricity. Instead of checking NYTimes.com ten times a day, I’ll only check once. Krugman also appears on MSNBC regularly — maybe he’ll advocate the simple electricty-saving solution of no longer watching television live. If everyone were to DVR the programs and skip the ads, that would shrink MSNBC’s carbon footprint commendably.

And to say the industries of the future don’t have vast armies of lobbyists in place just isn’t true. Just ask Al Gore:

WASHINGTON — A tiny car company backed by former Vice President Al Gore has just gotten a $529 million U.S. government loan to help build a hybrid sports car in Finland that will sell for about $89,000.
The award this week to California startup Fisker Automotive Inc. follows a $465 million government loan to Tesla Motors Inc., purveyors of a $109,000 British-built electric Roadster. Tesla is a California startup focusing on all-electric vehicles, with a number of celebrity endorsements that is backed by investors that have contributed to Democratic campaigns.

I’m no Nobel economist, so please tell me how Fisker and Tesla — industries of the future — are going to pay back this billion dollars.