Moral Philosophy and Climate Change

For readers who enjoy high-level discussions on the topic of sustainability, I heartily recommend the video linked above.  Dr. James Boyce, the director of the Program on Development, Peace Building, and the Environment at the Political Economy Research Institute, and professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, discusses the cost-benefit analysis associated with climate change mitigation. 

The problem, he points out, is that such an endeavor necessarily reduces everything to dollars and cents.  While this works well in certain areas, it fails here, where there are clearly effects of global warming that damage or destroy things that we deem to be priceless.

Boyce sounds more like a moral philosopher than an economist as he explains that people have rights, and that attempts to put prices on violating those rights doesn’t make sense.  For instance, we live in a society that outlaws slavery; we don’t ask what it’s worth to be free.

Good stuff; I hope you enjoy.