This week, heads of state will gather at the United Nations for their first-ever meeting dedicated to ending tuberculosis as a public-health threat. This is expected to result in the adoption of an ambitious political statement. This high-level attention is long overdue, but there is a compelling moral and economic case for this to be matched by resources, which are currently sorely lacking.

Cuando una “solución” a un problema causa más daño que el problema, el diseño de políticas ha fallado. Este es el lugar en el que nos encontramos a menudo respecto al calentamiento global.

It’s human nature to assign blame for catastrophic events. In medieval times, witches were blamed for weather woes. Trials and burnings increased when weather got worse. In hurricane season today, many find a scapegoat in global warming.

Pundits tell us “ignoring the science of climate change will hurt us” (Kristina Ball at NBC) and a Washington Post editorial declares the Trump administration complicit.

Proper early nutrition can spectacularly change the entire life trajectory of a child. We know from long-term studies that it promotes brain development, making the child do better in school, and much better later in life, affecting everything from the happiness of marriages to the quality of jobs, and up to 60% more earnings.

The government has made significant progress in reducing child malnutrition, but with nearly half of all deaths of children aged under five mainly caused by poor diet, much still needs to be done. 

Mens politikere elsker retorik om at redde planeten, er der meget få, der er villige til rent faktisk at implementere politikker, der ville resultere i meningsfulde temperatursænkninger. Hvorfor? Fordi omkostningerne ved dette er høje, og fordelene er meget små

De bæredygtige udviklingsmål har vakt stor begejstring, og med målene er der opstillet en ambitiøs vision for 2030. Men hvordan vil verden i virkeligheden se ud, når vi kommer til 2030? 

En ting, vi ved næsten med sikkerhed, er, at verden vil være meget mere velstående – ikke på grund af udviklingsmålene som sådan, men på grund af menneskets snilde og fremskridt.

When a “solution” to a problem causes more damage than the problem, policymaking has gone awry. That’s where we often find ourselves with global warming today.

Activist organizations like Worldwatch argue that higher temperatures will make more people hungry, so drastic carbon cuts are needed. But a comprehensive new study published in Nature Climate Change led by researchers from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis has found that strong global climate action would cause far more hunger and food insecurity than climate change itself.

Algunas políticas parecen ser tan altruistas que es casi imposible imaginar cualquier objeción a las mismas. Por ejemplo, prestar pequeñas cantidades de dinero o perdonar deudas para ayudar a los extremadamente pobres parecen abordajes totalmente razonables. Sin embargo, el escrutinio de los mismos revela que estas políticas bien intencionadas son erróneas.

Politický jazyk, jenž se dotýká klimatických změn, se vyznačuje odvážnými sliby, jež nikdy nebudou splněny, a smělými cíli, kterých nelze dosáhnout. I proto je pozoruhodné přiznání bývalého australského premiéra Tonyho Abbotta, že by nikdy nepodepsal Pařížskou dohodu, kdyby v roce 2015 věděl, že se z ní Spojené státy stáhnou a že snaha o dosažení národních cílů poškodí australskou ekonomiku.