{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/9a03fe9e-1ff0-4dcc-b3f6-50bd1f016ea4/d584bed7-4c67-474e-b55a-9ddeb15b1615?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"The Tragic Choices of Climate Change","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/6195701f2eacc3a36070252a/619570bccb3c660012e3ce13.jpg?height=200","description":"<p>David talks to Helen Thompson and Adam Tooze about the choices facing the world in addressing climate change.&nbsp;Can we transition away from fossil fuels while maintaining our current ways of living?&nbsp;Will we act in time if we also insist on taking our time?&nbsp;Can the West uphold its values while getting its hands dirty with China?&nbsp;Plus we discuss whether American democracy is the worst system of all for doing what needs to be done.</p><p><br></p><p>Talking Points:&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>The transition away from fossil fuels to non-carbon energy sources is, for now, constrained by the laws of physics around energy use.</p><ul><li>Converting one source of energy to another wastes a lot of energy.</li><li>Do we make a bet on transcending the laws of physics via technological innovation when we have to deal with the timescales imposed by climate change?&nbsp;</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Or is this way of framing things too negative?&nbsp;</p><ul><li>The story of modernity is about making technological bets against existing ways of life.</li><li>Is a bet with a ticking clock different?&nbsp;</li></ul><p><br></p><p>How do we actually get to carbon neutrality by 2050?</p><ul><li>Republicans in the US who take climate change seriously are betting on breakthroughs in carbon capture that will allow people to continue burning fossil fuels.</li><li>The target itself is artificial. We are picking out of probabilistic outcomes of more or less dire futures.&nbsp;</li></ul><p><br></p><p>There are different timescales at play here.</p><ul><li>There’s the inexorable progression of the problem itself; there’s political time, which is choppier but has rhythms to it; and there’s innovation time, which is not smooth at all.&nbsp;</li></ul><p><br></p><p>There is no collective climate solution that doesn’t involve China.&nbsp;</p><ul><li>China is moving on the climate issue regardless of the West.</li><li>China can do so in part because its market is so big, but also because its market is so new.</li><li>The drama of the political economy of climate change right now is largely Asian.&nbsp;</li><li>The Biden administration does not have a coherent climate change policy. The American debate seems frozen in the 1990s.&nbsp;</li><li>In the background of the American debate about climate is geopolitics.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Mentioned in this Episode:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-geopolitical-fight-to-come-over-green-energy/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Helen’s article on the geopolitical fight to come over green energy</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/15/race-to-zero-america-emissions-climate-crisis\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Guardian </em>on Princeton’s decarbonization by 2050 model</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p>Further Learning:</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/02/climate/atlantic-ocean-climate-change.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">More on the inversion of the Gulf Stream</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.ft.com/content/4d216675-f9a3-41db-8370-cf25314cf0e0\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Adam Tooze talks to Gideon Rachman about the climate crisis</a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n08/adam-tooze/shockwave\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Adam on the pandemic and the world economy</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>And as ever, recommended reading curated by our friends at the LRB can be found here: </strong><a href=\"http://lrb.co.uk/talking\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>lrb.co.uk/talking</strong></a></p><p><br></p>","author_name":"David Runciman and Catherine Carr"}