Climate Change and Development: The central challenge of our time
Imagine that a huge asteroid is hurtling towards Earth. Scientists tell us that there is a ten percent chance of a collision in 10 years and the consequences of its impact will be catastrophic. Your government advises you not to panic and reminds you that there is a 90 percent chance that the asteroid will miss the Earth. Do you decide not to worry, or do you demand that your government mobilizes all of the resources at its disposal to eliminate the risk?
We know that even in this fictitious – although not unthinkable -scenario, a variant of which constitutes the opening of Scott Barrett’s excellent book on global issues, the world would act to find a solution without a second thought. Governments would invest in whatever it takes to divert the asteroid from is predicted trajectory.
