Natural History Wanderings

Anthropocene Magazine reports

Near-term benefits of decarbonization are mostly from improved air quality, not reduced heat — but those benefits are substantial.

Rapid and massive action to decarbonize the U.S. economy will net the country trillions of dollars in savings over the next few decades alone, according to a new study—even if the rest of the world does nothing.

Plenty of research has shown that in the long term, the costs of climate change will be much greater than the costs of retooling society to reduce emissions and keep climate change in check. But the conventional wisdom has been that it will take many decades to “break even” on decarbonization from a financial point of view. And the prospect of short-term pain for only long-term gain has made it difficult to generate political support for climate action now.

Read more at Climate action pays for itself a lot sooner than you think