C02 levels in the atmosphere are climbing steadily higher. Some believe this is having a devastating effect on humans and nature, while others argue that the threat has been overstated. Is this the moment for a bold international treaty to curb carbon emissions? Or, are the social and economic costs of reducing C02 emissions too high in world where a billion people live on a dollar or less a day?
Just days before the United Nation’s historic Copenhagen summit the Munk Debates will tackle one of the great public policy questions of our time: how should the world respond to climate change?
Elizabeth May
“We need to look at all of Canada’s priorities, but we must address the climate crisis . . . if we fail to address it, nothing else we do makes any difference.”
George Monbiot
“The real costs of climate change are not measured in dollars and pounds, the real costs are measured in lives and in ecosystems . . . immeasurable.”
BjØrn Lomborg
“ . . . we are knowingly squandering colossal sums of money (on climate change) while fractional sums can save millions of lives right now.”
Lord Nigel Lawson
“We have entered a new age of unreason which threatens to be as economically harmful as it is disquieting. It is from this, above all, that we need to save the planet.”
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PRE-DEBATE
PRO: 61% CON: 39%
POST-DEBATE
PRO: 53% CON: 47%
VOTES CAST: 1,100
