From the wildfires raging in Los Angeles to sea levels rising rapidly on Pacific islands, the destruction of mangroves and rainforests, and melting glaciers. It is easy to be overwhelmed by climate change, especially when it is framed as an ongoing crisis of enormous proportions: a looming global disaster. In Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World, economist R. Jisung Park urges us to focus not on doom-ridden hypothetical scenarios, but on the tangible impacts of climate change unfolding right now, in our daily lives.
Using innovative data and cutting-edge economic research, Park highlights how the typical conversation around climate change misses its most pressing costs. What happens to those breathing in the smoke from distant wildfires? How do natural disasters disrupt education when schools and infrastructure are destroyed? Climate change, he says, is an ongoing process—a “silent accumulation of a thousand tiny conflagrations” affecting health, productivity and social mobility. Climate change exacerbates inequality: while wealthier households and corporations can often adapt, disadvantaged communities are far more vulnerable.
This lens offers a hopeful takeaway: by quantifying impacts and understanding them locally, we can make a compelling case for aggressive action to reduce emissions and develop practical strategies to mitigate harm. Park reminds us that tackling the challenges of climate change begins with addressing its effects where they matter most—in our communities, here and now.
Program information:
Jisung Park is an environmental and labor economist interested in how environmental factors shape economic opportunity and inequality. Park is an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the School of Social Policy and Practice and the Wharton School’s Department of Business Economics and Public Policy. His research combines data, experimental methods, and economic analysis to better understand the implications of environmental change for human flourishing and how effective policy responses may be designed.
Wouter van Noort, NRC journalist, will join Park for a discussion on how to make climate change approachable and actionable. In his popular newsletter, Future Affairs, he tackles a wide variety of topics, including the climate, innovation and research. His work often bridges the gap between technology and human values, offering accessible and thought-provoking perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of the modern world.
Tracy Metz, Director of the John Adams Institute, will moderate the event. In addition to her role at the John Adams, Metz is a journalist, author and podcaster who tackles major questions about design, our changing climate and water. She is widely recognized for her engaging insights into how human activity shapes the built environment and how societies adapt to environmental challenges.
Partners: This event is made possible thanks to our partners at Princeton University Press. Click here to buy the book at Athenaeum Boekhandel with a 10% discount (use discount code JAI10%).
Read, Watch, Listen: Looking for background information in advance of the event? Read Kim Stanley Robinson’s book The Ministry for the Future (2020). Watch Snowpiercer (2014). Listen to Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi.