Ethics and economics of climate change

The May edition of Scientific American includes a useful primer on the ethics and economics of climate change by John Broome. It includes references to further discussion of the subject by the likes of William Nordhaus, the IPCC and Nicholas Stern. The New York Review of Books (12 June) has also recently carried an article by Freeman Dyson that touches on similar themes.

Personally I do not see the emphasis on potential conflicts of interest between present and future generations as useful. It seems to me the best we can do for future generations is to encourage as much development as possible.