This special issue of Environmental and Resource Economics was originally intended to be an 'adversarial collaboration' between an author of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change (SD, contributing to Stern, 2007), and a critic (DJM, in Maddison, 2007). However, it is testament to the vitality of the discipline that our agenda for this issue has moved on. Rather than convening a symposium on the merits of the Stern Review (of which there have been several, in for instance Climatic Change, the Journal of Economic Literature, the Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, and World Economics), we collect together what are in our view some of the best examples of new economic research on climate change. Taken together, they look beyond the debate about the Stern Review and offer important new insights for the design of future policy.

While debates over the consequences of climate change are often pessimistic, historical data from the past two centuries indicate many viable opportunities for responding to potential changes. This volume takes a close look at the ways in which economies—particularly that of the United States—have adjusted to the challenges climate change poses, including institutional features that help insulate the economy from shocks, new crop varieties, irrigation, flood control, and ways of extending cultivation to new geographic areas. These innovations indicate that people and economies have considerable capacity to acclimate, especially when private gains complement public benefits. Options for adjusting to climate change abound, and with improved communication and the emergence of new information and technologies, the potential for adaptation will be even greater in the future.

A stirring case for a wholesale reimagining of the framing, tactics, and goals we employ in our journey to heal from ecological destruction With research and insight, Charles Eisenstein details how the quantification of the natural world leads to a lack of integration and our “fight” mentality. With an entire chapter unpacking the climate change denier’s point of view, he advocates for expanding our exclusive focus on carbon emissions to see the broader picture beyond our short-sighted and incomplete approach. The rivers, forests, and creatures of the natural and material world are sacred and valuable in their own right—not simply for carbon credits or preventing the extinction of one species versus another. After all, when you ask someone why they first became an environmentalist, they’re likely to point to the river they played in, the ocean they visited, the wild animals they observed, or the trees they climbed when they were a kid. This refocusing away from impending catastrophe and our inevitable doom cultivates meaningful emotional and psychological connections and provides real, actionable steps to caring for the earth. Freeing ourselves from a war mentality and seeing the bigger picture of how everything from prison reform to saving the whales can contribute to our planetary ecological health, we resist reflexive postures of solution and blame and reach toward the deep place where commitment lives.

Independent, rigorous and comprehensive analysis of the economic aspects of climate change.