Climate change isn't just an environmental issue; it's a technology, water, food, energy, population issue. None of this happens in a vacuum.
I see climate change as one of the driving forces in the 21st century. With modern technology and globalization, we are much more connected than ever before. The world's warehouses are now container ships.
We need to start prioritizing people, not polar bears.
Most people out there are just trying to keep their job and provide for their family. If climate change is now a once-in-a-mortgage problem, and if food prices start to spike, people will pay attention.
People working on climate change should prepare for catastrophic success.
We need to start prioritizing people, not polar bears. We're probably less adaptable than them, anyway. The farther you are from the Beltway, the more you can have a conversation about climate no matter how people vote. I never try to politicize the issue.
Unfortunately, there's a lot of people in high places who understand the science but don't like where the policy leads them: too much government control.
When we talk about climate, we need to do everything we can to set the stage before the actors come on. And they may only have one chance at success. We should keep thinking: How do we maximize that chance of success?
Politicians have responsibility to act if the public opinion changes. Flooding, storms, droughts are all getting people talking about climate change. I wonder if someday Atlanta will run out of water?
I like to think of climate action as a three-legged stool.
You get a series of super-typhoons into Shanghai and millions of people die. Does the population there lose faith in Chinese government? Does China start to fissure? I'd prefer to deal with a rising, dominant China any day.
If you start getting instability in large powers with nuclear weapons, that's not a good day.
Politicians have responsibility to act if the public opinion changes.
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Richard Alley Professor
