Michael Shellenberger

Michael D. Shellenberger (born June 16, 1971) is an American author and journalist, and an expert on free speech and censorship, who writes about politics, the environment, climate change, and nuclear power. In his book San Fransicko, Shellenberger makes the argument that progressivism is linked to homelessness, drug addiction, and mental illness. He is a co-founder of the Breakthrough Institute and the California Peace Coalition. Shellenberger founded the pro-nuclear non-profit Environmental Progress in 2016. As of November 2023, Shellenberger is the CBR Chair of Politics, Censorship and Free Speech at the University of Austin (est. 2024).

A controversial figure, Shellenberger disagrees with most environmentalists over the impending threats and the best policies for addressing them. He argues that global warming is "not the end of the world," and that GMO, industrial agriculture, fracking, and nuclear power are important tools in protecting the environment. His writing on climate change and environmentalism has received criticism from environmental scientists and academics, who have called his arguments "bad science" and "inaccurate". Response to his work from journalists has been mixed. In a similar manner, many academics criticized Shellenberger's positions and writings on homelessness, and he has received a mixed reception from writers and journalists on the topic.

Shellenberger ran unsuccessfully for Governor of California in 2018 and 2022.