A few more thoughts on climate and borders
The Sequencer team chimes in
Today we published a story about global cooperation in the era of climate change. It's difficult to imagine what this cooperation can look like, what cooperation realistic enough to expect, and what's cooperation is crucial enough to demand. The topic sparked some good discussions behind the scenes at Sequencer. So we thought why not share the rest of the team's reflections too.
Max G. Levy
Kim: Max’s article summarizes the root of the lack of political will to address climate change: everyone wants to benefit from a public good (a healthy climate) but no one wants to shoulder the costs of safeguarding it. Ladies and gentlemen, we have here a textbook case of prisoner’s dilemma.
The transboundary nature of climate change is scary but not surprising. But as Max’s article shows, this fact needs more acknowledgement so that countries can recognize the limitations of domestic actions compared with a global coordinated effort, the importance of all-hands-on-deck when it comes to dealing with the climate. Unfortunately, the world’s top greenhouse emitters — the US, China, the EU — also have the most political clout to veto international proposals when they perceive that their economic status quo is being threatened. One policy expert told me, in the context of dealing with global emissions, “the US is a problem.” Stay tuned for another rousing article on the climate.