Why a "risk averse response?"
Risk Adversity and Climate Change
Most of us are risk averse, and behave in risk-averse ways. We buy fire insurance, we don't drive 100 mph to the supermarket, we don't fund our retirement accounts by heading for the local casino. And we're more worried about how much we have to lose in a given situation than how much we have to gain.
When it comes to climate change, however, our risk-averse wires have gotten crossed. Consider some of the climate change outcomes listed in the thoughts below.
- Climate change could lead to 10 feet of sea level rise during the lifetime of today's teenagers
- Climate change could radically disrupt global agricultural production
- Climate change could render Texas uninhabitable (unless covered by a dome)
- Climate change could result in an order of magnitude increase in "natural" disasters
- Climate change could result in the global spread of tropical diseases
- Climate change could trigger a global pandemic
- Climate change could trigger massive human migrations
- Climate change could wipe out the world's coral reefs and many fisheries
- Climate change disruptions could lead to World War III
- Climate change could eliminate popular winter sports in many parts of the world
None are implausible, even if they don't represent the most likely climate change outcomes. But to ensure we avoid some of these outcomes you would think society would be engaged in an all-out risk-averse response. But we're not. Indeed, only modest progress in removing any of these outcomes from the board has been made in 30 years of trying.