John Mackey is at it again

It’s almost as if WholeFood’s CEO John Mackey enjoys ticking off a large percentage of his customers. He was recently profiled in The New Yorker and said plainly that there was no consensus that climate change is mostly man-made:

…One of the books on the list was “Heaven and Earth: Global Warming–the Missing Science,” a skeptical take on climate change. Mackey told me that he agrees with the book’s assertion that, as he put it, “no scientific consensus exists” regarding the causes of climate change; he added, with a candor you could call bold or reckless, that it would be a pity to allow “hysteria about global warming” to cause us “to raise taxes and increase regulation, and in turn lower our standard of living and lead to an increase in poverty.” One would imagine that, on this score, many of his customers, to say nothing of most climate scientists, might disagree. He also said, “Historically, prosperity tends to correlate to warmer temperatures.” 

I think we’re going to see some smack-downs of John Mackey this week. The Huffington Post already posted a reaction by Waylon Lewis, founder of elephantjournal.com, who appreciates Mackey’s eclectic ways, but now feels lost:

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I love that a libertarian entrepreneur with guts to speak his mind, a la Apple’s Jobs, is in charge of one of the greatest green success stories since…well, ever.

Still, as Al Gore said a year or so ago, the time for argument is past. There’s a clear consensus among scientists — 90% agree that Climate Change is significantly caused by human activities. 94% agree that it’s a real and present danger, not a far-off hypothetical fear for science fiction writers to have fun with.

If Climate Change were an “Evil” empire or terrorist group — and let’s not kid ourselves, it represents the possibility of a far more pervasive, lasting threat than either to all of us, and our precious economies  around the earth — we’d gird ourselves for war. We wouldn’t tolerate cynics. Support the troops!, we’d cry. It’s time for that same sense of pulling-together, of focus.

It’s time to go to War against Climate Change.

And if Mr. Mackey can’t get on board by this point, he should experience a little more censure. And I say that as a fan, and without pleasure. 

I suppose Lewis is at least respectful.    

 

Author

  • Zoe Romanowsky

    Zoe Romanowsky is writer, consultant, and coach. Her articles have appeared in “Catholic Digest,” “Faith & Family,” “National Catholic Register,” “Our Sunday Visitor,” “Urbanite,” “Baltimore Eats,” and Godspy.com. Zo

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