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A review by gvenezia
Reason in a Dark Time: Why the Struggle Against Climate Change Failed -- And What It Means for Our Future by Dale Jamieson
4.0
Depressive Realism
This book is the closest I've found to my depressive realist position on climate change: Damage that makes a difference is already here to stay and the remaining problems are mostly wicked—immune to our best intentions because they manifest from very strong evolutionary pressures and near-impossible coordination problems.
There are no ideal scenarios. Everything is tradeoffs. Policies have to consider social networks as much as environmental networks, but unfortunately study of the former is subject to much more bias and disinterest. Economics is key to understanding social networks and assessing how we got into this mess—and how we might adapt and mitigate its endless repercussions. Just because economics has had bad bedfellows doesn't mean it can't be useful in accurately assessing the situation and providing vital information on social network dynamics and cost-benefit calculation. Acknowledging tradeoffs, costs, externalities, and coordination problems is frustrating and dismal but necessary.
On that note, here are Jamieson's practical takeaways:
• Integrate climate adaptation with development
• Protect, encourage, and increase terrestrial carbon sinks
• Encourage full-cost energy accounting
• Raise the price of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to a level that roughly reflects their costs
• Force technology adaptation and diffusion
• Substantial increases in basic research spending
• Plan for a new world in which humanity is a dominant force on the fundamental systems that govern life on earth.
"Finally, I want to suggest one focus of immediate action. The use of coal should be discouraged, limited, and phased out as soon as possible."
Depressingly limited and vague conclusions? Yes. Reasonable for the darkness of our Anthropocene times? Yes.
This book is the closest I've found to my depressive realist position on climate change: Damage that makes a difference is already here to stay and the remaining problems are mostly wicked—immune to our best intentions because they manifest from very strong evolutionary pressures and near-impossible coordination problems.
There are no ideal scenarios. Everything is tradeoffs. Policies have to consider social networks as much as environmental networks, but unfortunately study of the former is subject to much more bias and disinterest. Economics is key to understanding social networks and assessing how we got into this mess—and how we might adapt and mitigate its endless repercussions. Just because economics has had bad bedfellows doesn't mean it can't be useful in accurately assessing the situation and providing vital information on social network dynamics and cost-benefit calculation. Acknowledging tradeoffs, costs, externalities, and coordination problems is frustrating and dismal but necessary.
On that note, here are Jamieson's practical takeaways:
• Integrate climate adaptation with development
• Protect, encourage, and increase terrestrial carbon sinks
• Encourage full-cost energy accounting
• Raise the price of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to a level that roughly reflects their costs
• Force technology adaptation and diffusion
• Substantial increases in basic research spending
• Plan for a new world in which humanity is a dominant force on the fundamental systems that govern life on earth.
"Finally, I want to suggest one focus of immediate action. The use of coal should be discouraged, limited, and phased out as soon as possible."
Depressingly limited and vague conclusions? Yes. Reasonable for the darkness of our Anthropocene times? Yes.