What do Climate Fortune Tellers — Al Gore, Bill Nye, and Leonardo DeCaprio — fear more than “climate change” and “global warming”?
Apparently debating Alex Epstein.
Writes the author of the best-selling The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels:
I just learned this morning that the CEO of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, who was supposed to debate me next Tuesday at the 20,000 person Collision Conf, has withdrawn.
He gave no explanation to the organizers and certainly did not give me the courtesy of an apology–even though my team has been preparing for this event for weeks.
This is just the latest example of the bankruptcy of the opponents of fossil fuels.
Since the publication of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, not one person has written a remotely plausible fundamental critique of the book.
Why? Because it’s not reputable?
Impossible.
The Moral Case has been reviewed favorably by dozens of publications (including the WSJ), it has a 4.7 rating across hundreds of reviews on Amazon (very unusual for a book this controversial), it was an NYT and WSJ bestseller, and one of the most respected political commentators of the last 25 years named me “most original thinker of the year” because of my reframing of the climate issue.
Almost no opponents challenge *The Moral Case* because they don’t want to *confront a good argument*. Their interest is not the discovery of the policies that will advance human flourishing, it is the status/approval they get by being leaders of a mainstream crusade.
Since the publication of The Moral Case, whenever opponents have tried to refute me in live situations, whether through debates or hostile interviews, it has gone badly for them.
It’s getting harder and harder for me to find anyone prominent to debate me. Al Gore won’t take my $100,000 offer, Bill Nye The Science Guy is the Silent Guy when it comes to debating, and now Leonardo DiCaprio‘s man is evading debating.
I have no idea what happened in this latest case (because he didn’t have the character to tell me) but it wouldn’t surprise me if some YouTube browsing made him conclude that he would be better off attending to “urgent” business far away from the debate hall.
There is still an empty slot to debate me at Collision Conf next Tuesday–if we can fill it with a big name. (Otherwise I will do a full event on the moral case). If Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Nye The Science Guy, or (the latest “scientific” fossil fuel attacker) Neil deGrasse Tyson is willing to step up, I will happily pay for their First-Class fare. Leo, since I know you prefer to fly private jet when it’s time to go attack fossil fuels, I will pay $2000 of your (fossil) fuel.
You can reach me at alex@industrialprogress.net.
Related: Why We Should Celebrate Fossil Fuels on Earth Day (video)
Book: The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels at Amazon