Bad Idea #18 "we’re addicted to fossil fuels" with Maarten Boudry

🔍 Episode Summary

Are we addicted to fossil fuels and can we just go cold turkey? Philosopher of science Maarten Boudry joins Mark Lynas to tackle Bad Idea #18:: “we’re addicted to fossil fuels”.

Drawing from his new book The Betrayal of the Enlightenment, Boudry offers a bold and clear-eyed critique of the dominant climate narrative. He argues that moralising fossil fuels as an "addiction" obscures both the complexity of the climate challenge and the role fossil fuels played in liberating billions from poverty, hunger, and hard labour.

Fossil fuels have undeniably caused environmental harm. But they also powered modern hospitals, clean water systems, food security, and global development. Denying this legacy may feel righteous, but it risks sabotaging both climate progress and justice for the Global South.

This episode explores the psychology of pessimism, the limits of degrowth, the ways today's climate discourse often betrays Enlightenment values like reason, science, and human flourishing, and whether we need a new progressive movement

Whether you're a climate activist, a policy wonk, or simply curious about how to save the world without losing our minds, this episode is for you.

🧠 Topics Discussed

● 🛢️ Why calling fossil fuels “evil” is historically ignorant and morally lazy

● 🔥 Fossil fuels as a moral tragedy: the engine of progress and the cause of warming

● 💡 Climate change is a technical challenge, not a cosmic punishment

● 🌍 Green colonialism: how Western elites block energy access in the Global South

● ☢️ Why serious climate policy must include nuclear energy ● 🧠 The evolutionary roots of pessimism — and why alarmism sells

● 🚫 The flaws of degrowth and “planetary boundaries” fundamentalism

● 📚 Enlightenment values and how the modern Left betrayed them

● 🐾 Why real environmentalism means innovation

● 🧪 Why romanticising nature leads us away from real solutions

👩‍🏫 Guest Bio Maarten Boudry is a philosopher of science at Ghent University and author of several books and essays challenging irrational beliefs — from religion to climate catastrophism. His latest work, The Betrayal of the Enlightenment (currently available in Dutch), critiques how the modern Left has abandoned Enlightenment ideals of reason, science, and human progress, often replacing them with pessimism, guilt, and technophobia.

📚 Recommended Reading & Resources

● De Verraad van de Verlichting (Maarten Boudry)

● Maarten’s Substack

● Enlightenment Now – Steven Pinker

● More from Less – Andrew McAfee

● The God Species – Mark Lynas

● Apocalypse Never – Michael Shellenberger

● We Are the Weather – Jonathan Safran Foer (for a contrasting perspective)

● Why We Disagree About Climate Change – Mike Hulme

● WePlanet’s “Just Stop Cooking” campaign

💬 Quote Highlights

“Fossil fuels aren’t evil. They’re the reason we have modern hospitals, schools, and food security.” — Maarten Boudry

“You don’t solve climate change by going backwards. You solve it by going forward, with better tech.”

“Calling something evil ends the conversation. It doesn’t start a solution.”

“If nuclear isn’t part of your climate plan, then your climate plan isn’t serious.”

“We romanticise nature as if it were kind — but nature gave us famine, disease, and child mortality.”

🌐 About WePlanet WePlanet is a global citizen and science movement challenging bad ideas and championing evidence-based solutions for climate, nature, and human development. Learn more at weplanet.org.

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