We need a "can do" frame of mind

When I first read about the United Nations Millennium Goals (MDG), I was mighty skeptical. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger everywhere in the world by 2015? -- not likely.

But in fact, a vast international effort, about which most of us here in the rich world have been oblivious, has accomplished an enormous amount, improving the lives of people all over the planet, even in Africa.

Click to enlarge.

That's one heck of a trajectory and a lot of people are living better than their parents even imagined.

Matt Yglesias explores the paradox of rising global living standards in the context of climate change.

One thing that’s important to understand about this is that the huge drop in global extreme poverty is a leading cause of climate change.

What first started me on my current climate trajectory was talking to book publishing people about “One Billion Americans.” I got pushback from some folks who said it would be bad to have more immigration to the United States because it would raise emissions. I said it’s true emissions would go up, but emissions would be rising because living standards would be rising, and from an adaptation perspective, it’s clearly better to have more people in the U.S. (much of which is relatively cold) than fewer.

But then it turned out lots of people believe we are facing an absolute decline in global living standards such that keeping people poor as an anti-emissions strategy has net benefits. That’s just not true.

Having been overly skeptical about the MDGs, I try to appreciate that, just maybe, we can hope that hard work and human ingenuity will enable us to come to terms with the mess we've made of the planet's carbon balance. 

Erudite Partner and I are temporarily at a family residence in Massachusetts, working toward installation of a hump pump system to replace an oil burner -- that is, the house is going all electric. That seems to be a thing that relatively affluent individuals can do. The Biden administration's climate legislation provides a big rebate that makes it less costly.

On climate, every little bit helps.