William E. Rees: The Enigma of Climate Inaction – On the Human Nature of Policy Failure

H. sapiens is a self-described intelligent species, yet seems committed to destroying its own habitat. Human-induced climate change, driven by carbon-dioxide and other GHG emissions, is one of several well-known threats to global civilization. Nevertheless, 34 climate conferences and half a dozen major international agreements in the past 50 years have failed to produce even a ripple in the curve of exponentially increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Climate change is accelerating. This presentation: 1) examines some of the evolutionary, behavioural and cognitive impediments to effective corrective action by governments and international agencies and; 2) advances some ideological, political and organizational changes that must be implemented at all levels of society to avoid global climate catastrophe.

• Rees, W.E. (2020) MegaCities at Risk: The Climate–Energy Conundrum, chapter in: Sorensen, A. andLabbé, D. (eds.) The International Handbook on Megacities and Megacity Regions. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar (in press).
• Rees, W.E. (2020) Ecological economics for humanity’s plague phase. Ecological Economics 169 (March 2020), athttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921800919310699?via%3Dihub
• Rees, W.E. (2019) End Game – The economy as eco-catastrophe and what needs to change. Real-World Economics Review (March 2019). athttp://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue87/Rees87.pdf
• Rees, W.E. (2019) Don’t call me a pessimist on climate change – I am a realist. The Tyee (11 Nov 2019) at https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2019/11/11/Climate-Change-Realist-Face-Facts/
• Rees, W.E. (2019) Memo from a climate realist: The choice before us. The Tyee (12 Nov 2019) at https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2019/11/12/Climate-Crisis-Realist-Memo/
• Rees, W.E. (2019) Yes, the climate crisis may wipe out six billion people. The Tyee (18 September 2019) at https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2019/09/18/Climate-Crisis-Wipe-Out/
• Rees, W.E. (2010) What’s Blocking Sustainability? Human nature, cognition and denial. Sustainability: Science, Practice & Policy 6(2):13-25 at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/49587221_What's_blocking_sustainability_Human_nature_cognition_and_denial