Hopes that humankind will deal with Earth's changing climate are in danger of being dashed by the ongoing " Great Recession."
Under the onslaught of the financial crisis, some European nations have turned skittish on forcing limits in heat-trapping "greenhouse" gas emissions. And stateside, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, has complained that "middle-class families are struggling during this recession," in objecting to similar plans to cap emissions.
But the financial meltdown may make the case for addressing global warming stronger, says Eugene Linden, author of Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations. A former Time magazine science writer, Linden alternates authoring with a part-time job at a hedge fund, making him the rare environmental writer on Wall Street. He spoke in April at a University of Illinois conference called "Planet U." on "What the Financial Crisis has to teach us about Climate Change."
"Climate has been our long and moody companion," Linden says. "When it's nice, it's nice. When it's not, it's a serial killer." Anyone worried about pink slips these days could be forgiven for feeling the same way about the economy, he says.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has projected a roughly 7-degree Fahrenheit rise in average global atmospheric temperatures by 2100 under "business as usual" rates of greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases, notably the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil, are transparent to sunlight, but trap heat in the atmosphere.
"The continuing global economic crisis has once again shoved the climate crisis to the back burner," Linden notes. But "it provides a useful analogy that helps us understand the paralysis on climate change. It also provides a useful analogue to how things might play out."
Among the similarities, he sees:
•In the financial crisis, toxic assets on bank books — bum loans — were released into the financial system. In climate, greenhouse gases are piling up, raising the risks of abrupt climate change.
•Prior to the financial crisis, "decisions were made that made the crisis worse — regulations dropped." In climate, regulations have been avoided for two decades after they were first suggested in Congress.
•Prior to the financial crisis, belief in the efficiency of the financial market was touted as a security blanket, Linden says. "Alarmists" such as economist Nassim Nicholas Taleb who predicted that a " black swan" event would hit the economy, were ignored. In the climate arena, he notes, scientists such as James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute are now seen as similarly controversial.
In historical terms, Lindens suggests we are "incredibly leveraged" for an accommodating climate, similar to the reliance that financiers put on steady return from a system they knew couldn't last forever.
"I think the experience shows us we can't rely on the government on climate," Linden says. Consumers making more environmentally-friendly decisions, ironically easier when you have less money in your pocket to spend, will likely make the biggest difference, he thinks.
Linden faced a few friendly questions from the audience after the talk. What do USA TODAY readers make of his argument?
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