Jonathan Franzen has some choice words for liberals
As many environmentalists and scientists worry that the United States is retreating from the fight against global climate change, acclaimed novelist Jonathan Franzen warned Tuesday that preoccupation with the issue is actually diverting attention from more pressing threats to nature. In a talk at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Franzen said the focus on preventing long-term changes to climate — a cause he contends has largely been lost — leaves scant resources for saving endangered species and other short-term ecological needs. “When it comes to the environment, climate now has an absolute lock on the liberal imagination,” Franzen said. “Any attempt to change the subject, even if you are trying to change it to the epic extinction event that human beings are already creating without the help of climate change, is an offense against that religion.” The author of such novels as “The Corrections,” “Freedom,” and “Purity,” as well as several works...