Economic Evolution

With Polar Vortex 3 hitting Lexington in the beginning of March, again the idea of climate change, let alone global warming, seems intangible. This is why the term climate change is key. There is no scientific debate as to whether or not CO2 emissions produced by human industry are altering the earth's climate; climate change is a"an inescapable truth," as The Economist calls it. But the continual division over how to combat this issue stems from two opposing ideologies about man's relationship with his environment. One is that the environment must be protected even at the cost of economic opportunity. The other is that economic growth must be promoted even at the potential harm of the environment. 

Environmental economics attempts to bridge this dichotomy. Environmental economics is a sub-field of economics that studies environmental issues such as the extraction and allocation of natural resources, land use, and carbon policy. This field of study is distinguished from ecological economics, which views the economic system as much a part of the planet's ecosystem as any other. This view of the economy becomes another way to reconcile these two ideologies. 

But regardless of how governments come down this spectrum, countries are responding to climate change by passing more specific laws aimed at cutting carbon emissions. According to The Economist, half of the 66 countries surveyed by a published review of national climate legislation passed environmental laws or energy efficiency acts in 2013. Whether or not they will be effective is another matter. 

The EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics suggests that market based approaches to greenhouse gas policy are most effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions on a national scale. Market based approaches essentially leave method of reducing emissions to the emitter and incentivize emitters to do comply with the standard by developing low cost ways to reduce pollution. Some market based strategies include tradable permits (cap and trade) or emissions taxes. I think that while the global  impact of these kinds of strategies is still uncertain because of how long term this issue is, we are definitely in a period of intense economic evolution. Over the past 2 centuries our economy has been progressing towards more development, more growth, and more consumption. Now we are going to have to adapt to the natural forces responding to these economic patterns. 

Janey Fugate