Michael Shellenberger

Michael D. Shellenberger (born June 16, 1971) is an American author and former public relations professional who writes about politics, the environment, climate change and nuclear power, as well as how he believes progressivism is linked to homelessness, drug addiction and mental illness, and more recently the lab leak hypothesis and UFO claims. He is a co-founder of the Breakthrough Institute and the California Peace Coalition. He is also the founder of Environmental Progress.

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 actually 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.

In 2023, Shellenberger wrote stories on Substack and made appearances on NewsNation about the COVID lab leak hypothesis and UFO claims.