“The Decarbonization Imperative”
KSQD 90.7FM “Be Bold America!” Sunday,
October 10, 2021 at 5:00pm
“Climate change is a challenge of our lifetimes. If we fail to act, and act soon, we risk leaving our children a world in which humany’s ability to flourish will be severely tested. “
– Michael Lenox & Rebecca Duff
Time is of the essence. Climate change looms as a malignant force that will reshape our economy and society for generations to come. If we’re going to avoid the worst effects of climate change, we’re going to need to effectively “decarbonize” the global economy by 2050!
This doesn’t mean a modest, or even a drastic, improvement in fuel-efficient standards for automobiles. It means 100% of the cars on the road being powered by non-carbon emitting powertrains. It means 100% of our global electricity needs being met by renewables and other non-carbon-admitting sources such as nuclear power. It means electrifying the global industry sector and replacing carbon intensive chemical processes with green alternatives.
With regards to existent business practices and products, how much and what kind of transformation can be achieved? Michael Lenox asserts that markets are critical to achieving the needed change. He and his co-author, Rebecca Duff, conclude with an analysis of policy interventions and strategies that could move us toward clean tech and decarbonization by 2050. Hear author Michael Lenox detail these policy interventions and strategies on “Be Bold America!”
Interview Guest:
Michael Lenox is the Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean and Chief Strategy Officer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and co-author of The Decarbonization Imperative and Can Business Save the Earth?. His work has been cited by the New York Times, the Financial Times, and the Economist. He has been recognized as a Faculty Pioneer by the Aspen Institute, as the top strategy professor under 40 by the Strategic Management Society, and one of the top 40 business professors under 40 by Poets & Quants.
Guest Cohost:
Dr. Richard Nolthenius is Astronomy Program Chair at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, CA. Dr. Nolthenius began his career in Mathematics, moved to Aerospace Thermodynamics in private industry, then to Applied Physics at Stanford University, and then to his boyhood love of Astronomy at UCLA, and beyond. In the past 10 years, he’s added climate science to his expertise, teaching a comprehensive course – Astro 7 – in Climate Science and its civilization context. But examining the climate science problem and searching for solutions, he has found it connected fundamentally to everything – from physics and evolutionary biology, to psychology, to economics and politics, to the thermodynamics of complex dynamical systems, and even the “strange attractors” of Chaos Theory. Solutions are not going to come from techno-wizardry, nor from politicians on the horizon today, nor from anyone mired in our current paradigms. He is a multiple chapter author in the award-winning anthology, “Climate Abandoned: We’re on the Endangered Species List.”
