This is a seven-day New York Times crash course on climate change, in which reporters from the Times’s Climate desk address the big questions: 1.How bad is climate change now? 2.How do scientists know what they know? 3.Who is influencing key decisions? 4.How do we stop fossil fuel emissions? 5.Do environmental rules matter? 6.Can insurance protect us? 7.Is what I do important? New York Times
Oil and gas companies are hurtling toward bankruptcy, raising fears that wells will be left leaking planet-warming pollutants, with cleanup cost left to taxpayers. NewYork Times
For a century, quantum theory has been scientific orthodoxy. The Italian physicist Angelo Bassi is certain it isn’t the full story — and that he can prove it. New York Times
With pressure mounting in some quarters for a return to “normal,” there can be no delay in planning for the post-pandemic future. Unless the world’s leading businesses commit to rebuilding on an entirely new foundation, another global crisis will be inevitable. Project Syndicate
The U.S. is slated to become the largest oil and the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter in just a few years. The federal numbers are out, and U.S. oil and natural gas exports boomed once again last year to record heights. Forbes
Social distancing is here to stay for much more than a few weeks. It will upend our way of life, in some ways forever. To stop coronavirus we will need to radically change almost everything we do: how we work, exercise, socialize, shop, manage our health, educate our kids, take care of family members. MIT Technology Review
This once-in-a-century pandemic is hitting a world economy saddled with record levels of debt. New York Times
The COVID-19 outbreak seems to have raised the odds of a global recession dramatically. But even if no downturn materializes in the near term, the outbreak, together with US President Donald Trump’s trade policy, may herald the end of the era when steadily rising international trade buttressed global peace and prosperity. Project Syndicate
For decades, economists have been wrestling with how best to weigh the current cost of emissions reductions against costs that will come years or even centuries from now. But a consensus has proved to be elusive, because traditional economic models don’t treat atmospheric carbon like an asset. Project Syndicate
Republicans used the pretense that they cared about fiscal responsibility to engage in de facto economic sabotage as long as a Democrat was in the White House. Then they abandoned the pretense and opened up the spending taps as soon as one of their own was in power. And far from paying a price for their duplicity, they are being politically rewarded. New York Times
© Stefan P. Schleicher 2019
