climate change impacts
-
![]()
![]()
Nicholas Stern: Climate inaction risks a new world war
Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. This is the first in a three-part interview with economist Lord Nicholas Stern on climate policy. Lord Nicholas Stern, one of the world’s most prominent climate economists, believes that failure to address global warming could eventually lead to World War III. In 2006, he produced the “Stern Review” on behalf […]
-
![]()
![]()
Climate reformists challenge old economic models
A few weeks ago I wrote about the seemingly different futures foretold by climate science and climate economics. The former is filled with peril and haunted by the unthinkable, the latter blithely assured of continued prosperity. Most economic modeling, you’ll recall, forecasts the continued rise of global gross domestic product (GDP) — people in the […]
-
![]()
![]()
Inaction on climate change is risky business
Even Tom Cruise thinks some risky business should be avoided.Like a family that has no homeowner’s insurance, no fire detectors, a gas leak in the basement, and a bad case of denial, the global community remains unprepared for irreversible and potentially catastrophic changes to the Earth’s climate. What’s needed — quickly — is an international […]
-
![]()
![]()
The U.S. government is an insurance conglomerate and it should insure against climate change too
Photo: David HilowitzMainstream economic modeling isn’t very good at incorporating the more severe risks of climate change, as I mentioned last week. The low-probability, high-impact possibilities that show up in the “long tail” of probability distribution — collapsing ice sheets, massive methane emissions from the permafrost — just completely short-circuit conventional models. As a result, […]
-
![]()
![]()
Why your money can’t protect you from climate change
It’s hard to see how the West will benefit from, say, more floods.Photo: NZRicoIn a recent article in Newsweek, Nobel laureate economist Thomas Schelling argues that one of the greatest obstacles to addressing climate change is persuading the non-poor in the developed world to take the problem seriously. As he states: Estimates of lost world […]
-
![]()
![]()
Smackdown: Climate science vs. climate economics
As I see it, there are two incommensurate stories being told about climate change. I’m not talking about the largely fake debate between those who say climate change is happening and human-driven (scientists) and those who say it isn’t (the GOP). I’m talking about two different ways of envisioning what we can expect in a […]
-
![]()
![]()
Climate refugees star in Oscar-nominated ‘Sun Come Up’ [VIDEO]
Photo: Sun Come Up If you’re tracking this year’s green Oscar nominees, another one to watch is Sun Come Up — which could really be titled Water Come Up because it’s about rising sea levels. Filmmaker Jennifer Redfearn tells the story of climate refugees in Papua New Guinea. All 3,000 residents of the Carteret Pacific […]
-
![]()
![]()
Single white TV station seeks idiot for lies and doubletalk
Will you be Fox’s Valentine?Photo: Adrian ScottowFox News “science” reporter Gene Koprowski doesn’t care if you believe in science. He just wants you to be willing to say it’s dumb. Global warming causing cooling? Climate change changing the climate? What is this, CRAZY TOWN? Would you say that on the record, please? And step on […]
-
![]()
![]()
Crazy storms highlight the crazy climate mess we’re in
A hard snow’s a-gonna fall.Photo: 350.orgIf you were in the space shuttle looking down yesterday, you would have seen a pair of truly awesome, even fearful, sights. Much of North America was obscured by a 2,000-mile storm dumping vast quantities of snow from Texas to Maine — between the wind and snow, forecasters described it […]
