Lives in Economics – The World Faces a Crisis that Has Both Economic and Ecological Dimensions
(Wall Street International)* — The climate crisis was made vivid by the October 2018 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In the words of 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg: “According to the IPCC, we are less than 12 years away from not being able to undo our mistakes. In that time, unprecedented changes in all aspects of society need to have taken place, including a reduction of our CO2 emissions by at least 50%…”
Green New Deal concept | Image from Wall Street International.
Although the worst consequences of out-of-control catastrophic climate change lie in the long-term future, the steps needed to avoid disaster must be taken immediately. Otherwise feedback loops such as the albedo effect or the methane hydrate feedback loop will take hold in earnest, making human mitigation efforts useless.
There is a contrast between two time scales; a contrast between the need for immediate action and the long time-delay until the worst effects of inaction are felt. This contrast is our central problem in dealing with the climate emergency.
If all coastal cities were already under water, if monsoons were already failing, if fresh water were already unavailable, if heatwaves were already killing millions of people and destroying agriculture, it would be easier to mobilize the political will needed for abrupt change.
