An Economist's Journey

摘要

For over two decades, Bill Nordhaus of Yale University has been recognized as a leading climate economist, and for much of that time his work has provoked the scientist-versus-economist debate in my graduate seminar on sustainable energy. Lately, however, he has begun to disappoint-as demonstrated by The Climate Casino. In the scientist-economist debate, the plea of scientists is straightforward: Don't mess with Earth's complicated systems by loading the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide (CO_2) from burning coal, oil, and gas. And don't allow global temperatures to rise more than 2℃ because this will significantly increase the likelihood of harmful surprises, like accelerated global warming as melting permafrost releases methane (itself a potent greenhouse gas).