Earlier today, I gave an introductory guest lecture on the science and economics of climate change to a class of business students at Algonquin College. In case anyone is curious, here are my slides:
- Keynote format
- PowerPoint format (with Windows-friendly font)
- PDF format
I tried to set them up so they would be comprehensible even in the absence of a lecture discussing them.
Please feel encouraged to post any questions or comments.
On YouTube, there is also a video of a five-minute talk I gave on the subject.
I was able to follow the PDF format quite well.
Did you have time for taking questions afterwards?
If so, what questions asked by the business students did you find interesting?
I wonder if those questions and discussion would reflect that of the general population. One of the challenges with business students is to identify that it is the continued aspirations of economic growth as we know it that is driving the use of fossil fuels.
Do you have any idea if the business students were open to the principles of environmental economics?
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Did you have time for taking questions afterwards?
If so, what questions asked by the business students did you find interesting?
There were good questions afterward: one on the utility of carbon capture and storage, one on the usefulness of biomass as an energy source, one on which jurisdictions have established especially good policies, and a couple of others I don’t immediately recall.
Do you have any idea if the business students were open to the principles of environmental economics?
You mean like the triple bottom line? The issue didn’t arise specifically, so I can’t really comment.
A very useful presentation covering a lot of ground. Of course, you can’t do everything in a single lecture, but you touched on many important things.
A small thought. Last slide of section #3 (big benefits) could be improved with some references to immediate costs from air contamination due to coal combustion (for example, here).
By “immediate costs”, I meant to say “public health costs”.
Thanks for the suggestion. People definitely take notice when you talk about things that are big, health-related, and already happening today (as opposed to being expected in the future).