This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.
Some people worry about the cost of taking action to stop climate change. But what they miss is the cost of inaction, which is vastly larger. These costs can be tricky to estimate because they’re often indirect – for example, infrastructure damage from flooding, crop loss, or loss of tourist dollars in a ski resort area. But there’s much good evidence that the cost of inaction is extremely high:
- Cost of inaction to U.S. overall (Tufts University)
- Cost of inaction to U.S. overall (University of Maryland)
- Cost of inaction to U.S. transportation industry (National Research Council of the National Academies)
- Cost of inaction to Florida (Tufts University)
Now the University of Maryland, in collaboration with the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), has extended its national report with studies of the economic and environmental costs of climate change in 12 different states (Colorado, Illinois, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee).
This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.