How fragile is our economy? Can it rebound from the impact of the shutdown and – similarly – from stresses climate change might inflict in the future? These are some of the questions I’ve found myself asking during the Covid pandemic. 

Looming over all of these was a broader and more troubling question: were the success of our economy and the future health of our planet somehow at odds? Following the logic of capitalism, would we only thrive if we produced and consumed at a rate that would eventually put our own species, as well as many others, at peril?

To help me make sense of this, I reached out to Environmental Economist Marc Conte,  an Associate Professor at Fordham University. He challenged my assumptions and introduced me to the Environmental Economist’s tool kit, from cap and trade to taxes on emissions.

Needless to say, this conversation didn’t resolve the thorny issues that had motivated me to contact Conte in the first place. But it did leave me feeling more informed, and it gave me some handholds for reckoning with the way that economics – or, writ more broadly, human behavior – will shape our ability to mitigate the problems of climate change. I hope you find it helpful too.

Tweet at Marc Conte @MarcNConte and at me @intheweedspod