(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Climate Change is Destroying the Economy [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-01-17 For years we have had Republicans claiming that measures to deal with climate change would destroy the economy and well-intentioned climate activists responding that we had to make the sacrifice for our children. It was a BS debate, that placed the economic impacts of climate change at some point in the future and pretended that we could keep up business as usual in the short term without facing negative economic consequences. As if the choice was between continuing prosperity and the sackcloth and ashes of the climate advocates. The reality is that the fight to save the planet is the fight to save the economy and save jobs, and not in some distant theoretical future. We are already seeing $$$$ trillions in losses, economic disruption, and rising inflation caused by climate change. That economic impact is happening right now, not decades from now. Trillions in Economic losses in the last 20 years “Heat waves propelled by climate change have cost the global economy at least $16 trillion since the early 1990s, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances” — Forbes “Extreme weather, made worse by climate change, along with the health impacts of burning fossil fuels, has cost the U.S. economy at least $240 billion a year over the past ten years, a new report has found. And yet this does not include this past month's three major hurricanes or 76 wildfires in nine Western states. Those economic losses alone are estimated to top $300 billion, the report notes.” — National Geographic Raging Food Price Inflation Every degree Celsius that the Earth warms, there’s an estimated 5 to 15 percent decrease in overall crop production. Yet rising populations are going to require a lot more food. By 2050 we will have 3 billion more mouths to feed which would require a big increase in food production at a time when climate change is stressing agricultural output in major ways. A Climate Change induced Economic Collapse Insurance giant Swiss Re has said that climate change could cut the world economy by $23 trillion in 2050. This would not be the full extent of it. Millions of climate refugees, plus economic and food insecurity will trigger social and political instability that will result in compounding those economic losses. This could initiate a negative feedback loop that could lead to civilizational collapse. Climate denialists are destroying jobs and causing inflation and massive economic disruption. They are marching the economy off a cliff. It does not need to be this way. Since the first industrial revolution, we have been reinventing our society and economy every 50 years. In the space of 50 years, American society was completely reengineered and the way we live was totally transformed to take advantage of the internal combustion engine and fossil fuels. The changes that need to be made to avert disaster today are no greater than the changes we have made over and over again in the last 200 years. Harness Capitalism and Innovation for Economic Growth Disruption and creative destruction are how modern capitalism is supposed to work… at least that is what Republicans tell us before proceeding to claim that we can’t afford disruption and creative destruction. But it is exactly what we need now to deal with climate change. Failure to adapt to change and rise to the challenge will lead to economic armageddon. We have seen this happen over and over with each revolutionary leap in technology, businesses that fail to respond to changing conditions and disruption die. The same applies to economies, societies, and species. Failure to adapt to new conditions results in collapse or even extinction. A Green New Deal is not just about saving the planet it’s about creating a prosperous future. The only way we save jobs, create economic opportunity, and feed the planet is by innovating a sustainable economy that deals with climate change. The choice is between the climate denialist no-nothing job destroyers vs the job creators who have a plan for a sustainable economic future. We are just as capable of radical change as our recent forebears who remade the world in successive waves of disruption and creative destruction to take advantage of industrial production, electricity, telecommunications, fossil fuels, and computers raising living standards and creating millions of jobs in the process. Let’s frame the debate based on economic reality, not the fantasy that an economy can survive without adapting to change or innovating. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/17/2147623/-Climate-Change-is-Destroying-the-Economy Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/