Climate Economics, Political Will, and Changing the Way People Think
The April 11, 2010 issue of The New York Times Magazine cover read “Building a Green Economy” by Paul Krugman. The editors must have taken liberty with the title since his actual article was titled “Green Economics; How We Can Afford to Tackle Climate Change”.
The message we found in the article is that we must take action to address climate change, we can do it, and we can’t afford not to. The real question however is how to change the way Americans think in order to create the political will to take effective action.
At Insight Rising, we believe that the only way to advance toward sustainability is to lead people to change the way they think about how sustainable practices can improve their businesses and personal lives. Furthermore, we agree that we have to change people’s thinking in order to reach the level of political will necessary to these solve problems. This will be a daunting task.
Mr. Krugman does an excellent job of presenting the facts that “we are currently facing a rise in global temperatures, that will be little short of apocalyptic”. He then states that “to avoid the apocalypse we must wean our economy from fossil fuels”. To do this, we need a revolution in the way people think!
A 2008 survey by the Pew Research Center found that a minority of college educated Americans believed that humans were a cause of global warming. When tabulated by political party, 75% of Democrats believed that humans were the cause and an amazingly low 19% of Republicans agreed with that belief. So, the number of people necessary to change their thinking to create a change in societal thought to successfully address climate change may be insurmountable.
Mr. Krugman’s article also provides a discussion of doubts about climate change and the level of misinformation being disseminated by those who want to head off climate change actions. Fossil fuel providers and the lobbyists who work for them fund research organizations to dispute valid research, work to kill political action, and sway American’s thoughts about climate change.
Mr. Krugman writes “any successful solution must be based on a system for giving everyone a self-interested reason to produce fewer emissions”. This may help to motivate some people but there is great reason to doubt that it will. Krugman observes that many studies have found that consumers fail to take measures to save energy, like improving insulation, even if they save money by doing so.”
The point is that economic incentives do not change the way people think. They are either too stupid to “get it” or too focused on the ingrained values of seeking personal pleasure or demonstrating their status when making investment decisions. A 2008 study by the Shelton Group found that many more people would choose to install granite counter tops instead of making energy saving improvements if they had a little extra money for home improvements. Wow, how do we change thinking like that?
Mr. Krugman’s article is really focused on the better approaches for providing economic incentives such as emissions taxes or cap-and-trade systems and the optimal timing for implementing them. However, unless those of us who are concerned about climate change figure out how to work together to change the way American’s think, nothing is going to happen!
Consulting services like those offered by Insight Rising will do little to drive a major impact on the consensus of thought. We have to come up with a clear, understandable, and undeniable message that individual actions are required of every business and household.
We hope that you will add to this discussion and help to change the way people think in America.
The April 11, 2010 issue of The New York Times Magazine cover read “Building a Green Economy” by Paul Krugman. The editors must have taken liberty with the title since his actual article was titled “Green Economics; How We Can Afford to Tackle Climate Change”.
The message we found in the article is that we must take action to address climate change, we can do it, and we can’t afford not to. The real question however is how to change the way Americans think in order to create the political will to take effective action.
At Insight Rising, we believe that the only way to advance toward sustainability is to lead people to change the way they think about how sustainable practices can improve their businesses and personal lives. Furthermore, we agree that we have to change people’s thinking in order to reach the level of political will necessary to these solve problems. This will be a daunting task.
Mr. Krugman does an excellent job of presenting the facts that “we are currently facing a rise in global temperatures, that will be little short of apocalyptic”. He then states that “to avoid the apocalypse we must wean our economy from fossil fuels”. To do this, we need a revolution in the way people think!
A 2008 survey by the Pew Research Center found that a minority of college educated Americans believed that humans were a cause of global warming. When tabulated by political party, 75% of Democrats believed that humans were the cause and an amazingly low 19% of Republicans agreed with that belief. So, the number of people necessary to change their thinking to create a change in societal thought to successfully address climate change may be insurmountable.
Mr. Krugman’s article also provides a discussion of doubts about climate change and the level of misinformation being disseminated by those who want to head off climate change actions. Fossil fuel providers and the lobbyists who work for them fund research organizations to dispute valid research, work to kill political action, and sway American’s thoughts about climate change.
Mr. Krugman writes “any successful solution must be based on a system for giving everyone a self-interested reason to produce fewer emissions”. This may help to motivate some people but there is great reason to doubt that it will. Krugman observes that many studies have found that consumers fail to take measures to save energy, like improving insulation, even if they save money by doing so.”
The point is that economic incentives do not change the way people think. They are either too stupid to “get it” or too focused on the ingrained values of seeking personal pleasure or demonstrating their status when making investment decisions. A 2008 study by the Shelton Group found that many more people would choose to install granite counter tops instead of making energy saving improvements if they had a little extra money for home improvements. Wow, how do we change thinking like that?
Mr. Krugman’s article is really focused on the better approaches for providing economic incentives such as emissions taxes or cap-and-trade systems and the optimal timing for implementing them. However, unless those of us who are concerned about climate change figure out how to work together to change the way American’s think, nothing is going to happen!
Consulting services like those offered by Insight Rising will do little to drive a major impact on the consensus of thought. We have to come up with a clear, understandable, and undeniable message that individual actions are required of every business and household.
We hope that you will add to this discussion and help to change the way people think in America.
