Viewing the climate crisis as merely ‘costs’ and ‘benefits’ is part of the reason why there is a climate crisis — Upon accepting his Nobel Prize in 2018, the economist William Nordhaus argued that 4°C of global warming is ‘optimal’. Optimal because that’s where the costs and benefits of mitigating climate change will balance out from a cost-benefit perspective. In a subsequent paper, Nordhaus argued that “damages are estimated to be…

After all, the whole point of the economy is to make the rich richer…right? — Inflation in the UK is at its highest rate for forty years, and business is booming. Centrica, the owner of British Gas, made £1.3 billion in profits in the first six months of the financial year. BP made £7 billion between April and June. Not to be outdone, Shell reported…

Humanity collectively has its head in the sand — For a while, there’s been a belief that sustainable development can allow three crucial prongs to be dealt with simultaneously. Reduce the worst impacts of the climate crisis, rid the world of poverty, and at the same time maintain a thriving economy. Doing so will allow us to move towards…

A belief in deregulation is having destructive consequences — The former UK prime minister Boris Johnson bowed out of Parliament with some words of advice; ‘deregulate wherever you can’. It’s no surprise he chose such advice because right-wing parties (like the Tories in the UK and Republicans in the US) have been cheerleaders for neoliberal policies for decades. Deregulation…

We’re facing a wicked problem unlike any other — Systemic social problems are rarely simple to solve, yet most have been defined by heroic leadership. Martin Luther King was the face of the civil rights movement in America. Nelson Mandela’s freedom from prison after 27 years marked the end of apartheid in South Africa. Mahatma Gandhi, a pioneer of…

Consumption and sustainability are incompatible — The climate crisis is framed as a problem we must ‘solve’, assuming that technological innovation will allow us to overcome the challenge. But the climate crisis is an effect of emissions caused by human behaviour, a major cause of those emissions is consumption. Given the relationship between consumption and emissions…

The metaphor of a bathtub shows how social development has come at a terrible cost — Imagine the Earth as a giant bathtub. There are a bunch of taps at the top of the bath, some natural, others manmade. When a tap is turned on, it impacts the water level in the bath. The water level in the bathtub represents the atmosphere. The thing that can…

Social transformation is necessary to give us a fighting chance of success — Achieving net zero by 2050 has become a beacon climate action revolves around. Each country that agreed to the Paris Agreement has submitted Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the UNFCCC, laying out their plans to reduce emissions. The NDCs allow the UNFCCC to determine whether the world is on course…

The aim of the game is to become rich; how you get there doesn’t matter — Winning in society is all about having the most money. If you have the most money, you can buy the best house, the best cars, the best clothes. You can travel first class, stay in five-star hotels and visit the best restaurants. But no one stops to think, has this…