Short Nerd Chief

Earth2Tech asks a question: “Would you, for a limited amount of time, give up a small percentage of your income to stop global warming?”

Simple answer: No.

Slightly more complicated answer: It depends, given that the question is fundamentally unfair and incomplete. Whether I would give up some of my income in order to (maybe) produce some inchoate good (no one thinks we can stop climate change for 1.6% of global GDP, but maybe we can change the rate of change) depends on the relative severity of my sacrifice compared to the benefit produced.  In other words, what are you giving up? I’m willing to give a dollar to a panhandler, and if 999 other people gave him a dollar, he’d have $1,000.  But I wouldn’t give him $1,000 so that those 999 other people could buy a burger off the Dollar Menu.  So don’t just ask me to give up some of my income without telling me what you’re giving up.  And by “you” I mean “the other 6 billion people on Earth.”