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I recently read Marty Weitzman’s review of the Stern Report scholar.harvard.edu/files/weitzman… For anyone with an economics background, this is a superb summary of the issues surrounding climate change policy. But tying climate change policy, as @GeorgeMonbiot does, to ... 1/n
... a movement to end global capitalism, is probably not wise. Markets have a proven record of success at ending global poverty and reducing inequality worldwide. And if human beings have a hope of solving the very real issues posed by ... 2/n
... planetary warming, it seems unwise to take the most effective social mechanism that human beings have yet devised, out of the picture. Why? One might, for example, argue that capitalism is itself the problem. After all, it was the industrial revolution that ... 3/n
... led to the injection of polluting gases into the atmosphere in the first place and caused our current dilemma. While that is certainly true, as @sapinker reminds us, it the industrial revolution that has led to increased life expectancy, a reduction in disease, ... 4/n
... lower crime rates and an increase, not just in GDP per person, but also in well being. The myth of Rousseau’s noble savage is just that, a myth. So yes. Climate change is a game changing issue. That is something that, at least in the UK and Europe, is ... 5/n
... acknowledged by political parties at both ends of the political spectrum. I would hope that those who have spent a little time reading about the science of the issue would also spend a little time understanding the economics. Weitzman’s piece is a great place to start. 6/6
