According to Bill McKibben’s recent article on “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math”, how much of the world’s current fossil fuel reserves can we afford to burn if we are going to have a fighting chance to reduce some of the worst effects of climate change?

Next, list and explain in some detail four of the most profound changes in our society which Naomi Klein argues will be required to build a new “civilizational paradigm” that can seriously confront our climate crisis. (See Klein’s article on “Capitalism vs. the Climate”.) Why does Bill McKibben believe that creating a less consumer driven world, may actually make us happier? What have scientists recently learned about what seems to make us “happy”? (For this section see McKibben’s “Reversal of Fortune”.) Do you think that Klein and McKibben are onto something here, or should we do what many Republicans argue? (That is to simply wait until more solid evidence on climate change is available, and then trust private entrepreneurs in the energy industry to develop and implement the necessary solutions to this problem). Explain.