A Climate Solution Where All Sides Can Win: Ted Halstead (Transcript)

Ted Halstead

Here is the full transcript of American author Ted Halstead’s Talk: A Climate Solution We All Sides Can Win at TED conference.

TRANSCRIPT:

I have a two-year-old daughter named Naya who is under the mistaken impression that this conference is named in honor of her father. Who am I to contradict my baby girl? As many of you know, there’s something about becoming a parent that concentrates the mind on long-term problems like climate change.

It was the birth of my daughter that inspired me to launch this climate organization, in order to counteract the excessive polarization of this issue in the United States, and to find a conservative pathway forward. Yes, folks, a Republican climate solution is possible, and you know what? It may even be better. Let me try to prove that to you.

What we really need is a killer app to climate policy. In the technology world, a killer app is an application so transformative that it creates its own market, like Uber. In the climate world, a killer app is a new solution so promising that it can break through the seemingly insurmountable barriers to progress. These include the psychological barrier.

Climate advocates have long been encouraging their fellow citizens to make short-term sacrifices now for benefits that accrue to other people in other countries 30 or 40 years in the future. It just doesn’t fly because it runs contrary to basic human nature.

Next is the geopolitical barrier. Under the current rules of global trade, countries have a strong incentive to free ride off the emissions reductions of other nations, instead of strengthening their own programs. This has been the curse of every international climate negotiations, including Paris.