Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 An introduction to the climate problem
- 2 Is the climate changing?
- 3 Radiation and energy balance
- 4 A simple climate model
- 5 The carbon cycle
- 6 Forcing, feedbacks, and climate sensitivity
- 7 Why is the climate changing?
- 8 The future of our climate
- 9 Impacts
- 10 Exponential growth
- 11 Fundamentals of climate change policy
- 12 Mitigation policies
- 13 A brief history of climate science and politics
- 14 Putting it together: A long-term policy to address climate change
- References
- Index
11 - Fundamentals of climate change policy
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 An introduction to the climate problem
- 2 Is the climate changing?
- 3 Radiation and energy balance
- 4 A simple climate model
- 5 The carbon cycle
- 6 Forcing, feedbacks, and climate sensitivity
- 7 Why is the climate changing?
- 8 The future of our climate
- 9 Impacts
- 10 Exponential growth
- 11 Fundamentals of climate change policy
- 12 Mitigation policies
- 13 A brief history of climate science and politics
- 14 Putting it together: A long-term policy to address climate change
- References
- Index
Summary
In the previous chapters of this book, we have seen that 1) the Earth is warming, 2) most of the recent warming is very likely due to human activities, 3) warming over the next century will likely be a few degrees Celsius, and 4) such warming carries with it a risk of serious, perhaps even catastrophic impacts for humans and the rest of the planet's ecosystems.
Given those facts, what shall we do about climate change? Science, it turns out, is just one of several factors needed to answer this question. Deciding what to do also requires information about the options available to us to respond to climate change, and the costs, benefits, and risks of each option. In addition, we must consider not just monetary costs but also the moral trade-offs inherent in each policy. In this chapter, I will outline the various options available to us to address climate change.
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- Information
- Introduction to Modern Climate Change , pp. 165 - 184Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011