Barack Obama has penned a parting missive for his successor, Donny Trump. It comes in the form of a paper now published in the journal Science entitled, "The irreversible momentum of clean energy."
The idea seems to be to demonstrate to the reader (assuming Trump can indeed read - and there's some doubt about that) that transitioning to clean energy from fossil fuels will facilitate rather than impede economic growth.
This “decoupling” of energy sector emissions and economic growth should put to rest the argument that combatting climate change requires accepting lower growth or a lower standard of living. In fact, although this decoupling is most pronounced in the United States, evidence that economies can grow while emissions do not is emerging around the world.
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At the same time, evidence is mounting that any economic strategy that ignores carbon pollution will impose tremendous costs to the global economy and will result in fewer jobs and less economic growth over the long term.
The full paper, in PDF format, can be found here. It's short enough that even Trump should be able to digest it.
Hard to imagine Donald Trump having anything published in a science journal, other than perhaps a letter to the editor spouting gibberish, published because even science editors have a sense of humour.
ReplyDeleteWhy the obsession with growing the GDP, if the priority is to reduce GHGs?
ReplyDeleteI think it's because of the way the financial system has loaded everyone up with massive debt. Only an ever-growing GDP can deal with the growing debt. It's all a big hoax, IMO.
Addressing climate change means rethinking the financial system, and abandoning the endless GDP growth nonsense.
Reuters says global debt is now at $217 trillion, or 325% of global GDP:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-debt-iif-idUSKBN14O1PQ
Hugh, I'd recommend you read John Ralston Saul's "The End of Globalism." In it he discusses how, in ancient Greece, an ailing, moribund economy was revived by simply cancelling all debt. Debt was simply wiped off the books, allowing debtors to become consumers again and, in the process, kickstarting the economy. Former creditors likewise prospered by returning to production rather than wasting their time occupied with the futile pursuit of impecunious debtors.
ReplyDeleteIn BC, Govt says that GDP is growing whilst GHG emissions are dropping.
ReplyDeleteActually, there are many more cars on the road since the BC carbon tax was started in 2008. Gasoline and diesel sales are up. GHG emissions are not dropping.
GDP in BC only appears to be strong - it's because of the seriously frightening real estate bubble ponzi scheme.