Introduction
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Instructor: Ivo Welch, Professor
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Course Title:
- Climate-Change, Economics, Technology.
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Not a Course in Business Opportunities
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Conceptual Economics Course
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But if you do not understand the broader context, do you really want to dedicate your life or go into the clean-energy business?
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Not a Course in Ayn-Randian Defense of Free Markets
- externalities are big
- economics never said “hands off” in these cases
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Not a Course in Climate Activism.
- Class is about the real world,
- not about the world we would like.
- It is also not about winning arguments:
- If I am wrong, convince me!
“Whether We Like It Or Not”
“Whether We Like It Or Not”
“Whether We Like It Or Not”
This Blue Class
Video Clip
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The Red Pill
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Morpheus:
Remember, Neo: All I am offering is the truth, nothing more.
The Inconvenient Truth
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not just for climate-change deniers
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but also for climate activists
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If you want to be an activist, be my guest.
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Think about the following questions:
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what is only performative and/or useless?
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what can you focus on that would make a difference?
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what can you focus on now that would make a difference?
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“Whether We Like It Or Not”
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It sucks that the sun goes down,
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…but there is nothing we can do about it!
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if you want to keep warm, don’t argue about how humanity could invent mirrors that may in 50 years redirect sunlight, but think about what you can do now to improve the situation
- e.g., build a shelter
- e.g., invest in mirror R&D.
- e.g., do not berate people who are not assembling mirrors now
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if you want to slow the flood, work in the design office.
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don’t put your finger into the world’s dyke.
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make it easier for people to put fingers into dykes
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I will use this many times in this course.
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Don’t shoot the messenger!
- I did not design the system. It’s not my fault.
Reorganization
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I am rearranging the topics relative to the book. This will be the organization in the next edition of the book.