Alligators in the Arctic and how to avoid them : science, economics and the challenge of catastrophic climate change

"Climate change is a matter of extreme urgency. Integrating science and economics, this book demonstrates the need for measures to put a strict lid on cumulative carbon emissions and shows how to implement them. Using the carbon budget framework, it reveals the shortcomings of current policies and the debates around them, such as the popular enthusiasm for individual solutions and the fruitless search for 'optimal' regulation by economists and other specialists. On the political front, it explains why business opposition to the policies we need goes well beyond the fossil fuel industry, requiring a more radical rebalancing of power. This wide-ranging study goes against the most prevalent approaches in mainstream economics, which argue that we can tackle climate change while causing minimal disruption to the global economy. The author argues that this view is not only impossible, but also dangerously complacent"-- Back cover "Ellesmere Island is in the very far north of Canada, above the arctic circle. It lies just to the west of Greenland, and like its bigger neighbor it is almost entirely glaciated. If you are on your way to the North Pole by way of Canada, this will probably be your last stop. Few scientists had made their way to Ellesmere when Mary Dawson, a paleontologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, launched her first expedition there in 1973. Dawson, 42 at the time, was fascinated by the possibility that there had once been a land bridge between North America and Europe, and she hoped to find evidence that terrestrial species had migrated across it millions of years ago. Accompanied by a coworker, she hauled her gear to a remote camp and began scouring the desolate, frozen territory for fossil remains"-- Provided by publisher Copyright_page Dedication Contents List of Figures, Maps and Tables Preface Introduction: When Alligators Go North 1 Carbon Accounting for Planet Earth 2 The Risks of Climate Change, or Why Carbon Budgets Need to Be Binding 3 Measurement: Myths and Distractions 4 It’s about Fossil Fuels 5 Costs and Consequences 6 The Carbon Policy Toolkit 7 The Global Dimension 8 Political Economy for Alligators Appendix: Demystifying the Economics of Climate Change Notes References Index