Thursday, August 18, 2011

Climatopolis


Climatopolis by Matthew Kahn is an easy and good read.  Here is an economist from UCLA looking at the ability of cities to adapt to the changes caused by climate change.  It is interesting because he does not question whether there will be climate change, but instead is an optimist when it comes to the ability of free market capitalism to adapt to the climate change by seeing financial rewards in the responses.

He draws some conclusions from studies that show both forests and animals are moving to habitats at higher elevations, but does not continue in this book to look at the consequences for those species except to note that human changes have reduced their options for adaptation.

Overall it is a fascinating look at one persons thoughts on human urban adaptation potential.  The second weakness of the treatise is that the rural aspects of the book are weak.

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