A Green Economy

      Paul Krugman was the winner of the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science.  He is also a columnist for The New York Times and has written multiple books.  Krugman is also a professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University.

      In Krugman’s article, Building a Green Economy, he discusses negative externalities.  Negative externalities are costs that economic actors impost on others without paying a price for their actions.  In regards to climate change negative externalities refers to environmental legislations.  Such legislations include those that began in the 1970’s in regards to emission standards for cars and factories dumping into waterways.  There was also a recommendation of new coal-fired plants having scrubbers in order to remove sulfur dioxide from emissions in order to prevent acid rain.  These actions have helped to slow climate change and also to lower emissions.

       There is uncertainty about long-term forecasts of our future climates and they make the case for action in-fact stronger rather than weaker.  No one truly knows how much damage could result from the rising temperatures around the globe.  The risk of a catastrophe, even if it is a slight chance, should be a dominating factor in our decision making actions.  Projections that are seen now, without any action being taken, have been seen to be close to ‘doomsday’ predictions.  If there is any chance of something like this happening it isn’t too early to say that change needs to happen.  Older predictions of our current rise in temperature have been correct and it is time to take action for the future.

Source:  Building a Green Economy

Krugman, Paul. "Climate Change - Building a Green Economy - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. The New York Times, 7 Apr. 2010. Web. 6 Apr. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/magazine/11Economy-t.html?pagewants=all&_r=0>.