The eminently readable author of 1492 and 1493 takes on the problem of developing an implementable climate change policy.

I think his reading of the situation is very reasonable. If the situation is as dire as James Hansen suggests, it’s hard to get motivated to get active and make sacrifices, while there are clearly ancillary benefits from reducing our reliance and use of energy produced by burning coal.

It isn’t clear to me why a tax on carbon has to be jointly implemented across the developed nations to be effective, at least partly, but this somewhat long essay does an excellent job of laying out the issues and looking at them from the perspective of climate scientists, environmental activists and economists. Well worth the time to read it.