Archive for category Sustainability

Or .. `How to present non-linear dynamics to a Linear Generation’

I’m a big supporter of attempts to bring complex issues to the public in a digestable format, and for this Murray has done a superb work of good here. However, I’m also keen to bring some of the emmotion out of climate change and bring real economic solutions to the table, rather than (say) public disobedience (as it seems Murray would have us undertake from this clip).

The problem of Climate Change is Economic in nature: to quote Nicholas Stern, author of the vital ‘Stern Review’ for the UK, climate change is the biggest example of market failure the world has ever seen. I don’t disagree, and thus, surely it is up to us Economists to provide an answer. Here’s where climate change policy is so important. Murray rightly shows that there are some ‘vested interests’ who may not wish to change the direction of their very large corporate ships, but the reality is, this is not a long-term strategy and they know it. Indeed, many of the large miners (for example) have been thinking about a low-intensity climate future for some time. We, the people, need to support these efforts and encourage our governments to get on their skates. As Murray says, we have little time to ‘fiddle’, Rome isn’t burning yet, but it will.