Summary
It is essential that we recognize the likely impact of the ongoing process
of climate change. It is just as important to realize that stabilizing Earth’s
climate, albeit at a temperature a few degrees above the current average,
will require tremendous economic changes. Significant reductions in
global greenhouse-gas emissions will not be achieved through a large
number of small actions that are barely noticeable in our daily lives.
Instead, bold but carefully designed government policies are needed to
alter some of the prices that we face to better reflect the full social costs of
our activities—both as consumers and as producers. Considerable
resources will also have to be devoted to the development of new
technologies. None of this will be simple, and real sacrifices will be
involved. But these sacrifices today and in the near future may be far less
than the long-term costs we will face if we do not take up the challenge
now.