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Problem Based Learning - 6 November 2006
Tackling Climate Change: A benefit worth the cost?
This Problem Based Learning (PBL) activity looks at the problem of climate change and what to do about it. A report published at the end of October 2006 suggests that climate change is the biggest problem facing humankind, and that without immediate international action, the consequences could be catastrophic. Others argue that climate change is shrouded in controversy, along with unreliable and contradictory statistics. They say that the sort of sums of money being suggested by the report to deal with the problem are so large that we should not commit to such actions until we have more reliable information.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the PBL activity, students might have covered some of the following:
- The principle of cost benefit analysis (CBA) as a tool for decision making
- The concept of present value
- The causes, consequences and solutions to market failure
- Solutions to climate change - taxation and tradable carbon permits
- The causes and consequences of climate change - the costs expressed in economic terminology
- The barriers to tackling the problem
- The concept of 'trade-offs'
Resources:
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