Nobel laureate's book enhances public climate change knowledge
- By Zhang Liying
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 4, 2019
A book launch celebrating the Chinese translation of "The Climate Casino" by William D. Nordhaus, Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University and co-winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, was held at the Yale Center Beijing on Saturday.
Nordhaus said in a video interview the basic idea of the book was to present the frontier knowledge of economics, science and politics concerning climate change for anyone interested in the issue and not necessarily technicians, scientists or quantum physicists.
Using language accessible to any concerned citizen, and taking care to present different points of view fairly, Nordhaus discusses climate change from start to finish.
The book takes readers from the beginning, where warming originates in our personal energy use, to the end, where societies employ regulations or taxes or subsidies to slow the emissions of gases responsible for climate change.
He emphasizes the importance of enhancing public knowledge on climate change, pointing out that policies to address the problem are generally costly and complicated, thus requiring wider public understanding.
"If the public of our countries do not understand the basics, such as the causes and consequences of climate change, the policies will get nowhere," Nordhaus insists.
He said the United States and China are two key countries in terms of solving the problem, and they have to work together to form the core of a coalition which will take effective actions to slow, and perhaps prevent climate change.
"That's one of the reasons why I'm so delighted the book has been translated into Chinese, for more than a billion people to read it to understand and talk about the topic."
The book's Chinese translator, economist Liang Xiaomin, said economic solutions are essential to reduce the threat of climate change, a side effect of economic growth since the Industrial Revolution.
Nordhaus laid out critical economic steps for slowing the trajectory of global warming, Liang said, while calling for collaboration of all walks of life to put them into action.
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