Interesting article by Bill McKibben in the latest issue of Orion on conservatives and climate change. McKibben notes the distinct difference between conservatism in its traditional form and libertarianism. He draws out the implications for the climate change debate.

McKibben writes: “I’m not a libertarian, because I think they’ve conflated ‘human nature’—their sense of the individual über alles—with the effects of the last couple hundred years of consumer society. I think humans are at their best when they’re social creatures; that’s why I’m a Methodist, not a Randian.”

Fascinating piece with implications, I think, beyond environmental ethics, whatever one might think of the climate change debate.