How the Left Came to Reject Cheap Energy for the Poor

The Great Progressive Reversal: Part Two

Progressives once championed state-led projects to advance human and economic development like FDR's (left) Tennessee Valley Authority. Today, despite enjoying the fruits of a modernity created in many ways through such public efforts, they urge a return to low-energy lifestyles and promote decentralized, market-driven proposals. A true progressive vision for the 21st century should — and will — be shaped more by leaders in the developing world who have no illusions about energy poverty, like Dilma Rousseff of Brazil (right), than by Western environmentalists.
http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/voices/michael-shellenberger-and-ted-nordhaus/the-great-progressive-reversal