The left’s climate denial problem

The Obama administration’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline was hailed as a big win for environmentalists, even as the benefits to the environment remain unclear to this day. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

The Argument is thrilled to announce that John Thomason is joining our growing editorial team as our senior editor.

John comes to us from Grist, the leading independent climate and environmental magazine, where he spent more than five years as the features editor on a team that won a 2023 National Magazine Award for general excellence. There, he commissioned long-form enterprise stories and argument-driven analysis, led much of the publication’s news coverage, and edited features recognized by a Sidney Award, a Murrow Award, and inclusion in The Best American Science and Nature Writing anthology, among other honors. Before joining Grist, he ran the fact-checking desk at The Intercept.

At The Argument, John will commission and edit essays, reported features, and cultural commentary; guide writers in sharpening their arguments; and write a regular column of his own. He will help set our editorial priorities, expand our contributor network, and mentor our junior staff and fellows, carrying forward the standard that defines us: sharp, rigorous arguments that confront the illiberal drift in our politics.

To support The Argument’s mission of revitalizing liberalism through public, rigorous debate, please consider becoming a paying subscriber. It’s how we bring on talented new writers, commission original polling, and produce fantastic audio and video content.

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• Jerusalem Demsas, editor-in-chief

Climate policy is trade-offs all the way down. That’s because we’re trying to balance the harms of global warming with the benefits of modern energy and industry. If the only thing we wanted to do was eliminate carbon emissions, we would find a giant “off” button for the global economy and press it as fast as poss…