With COVID restrictions easing up, you may again be on the hunt for entertainment for your commute. We’ve got you covered! Every couple of months, we’ll be asking RECEIPT experts for their latest discoveries. For this first edition, we’ve compiled a perfect blend of in-depth insights and anecdotes to share at your next socially distanced gathering. Strap in!
Philosophy of climate (in)action
Recently, Ertug has been reading about the psychology of climate change. He’s become particularly interested in how our norms, beliefs and values can contribute to RECEIPT’s work on storylines. He came to understand that the way we frame and tell our climate risk storylines is what will make or break them. Ertug believes that “centring our approach to human psychology and social dynamics is crucial in telling the right story to the right people”. That is what will ultimately result in climate action or in inaction.
Curious about what got Ertug so inspired? Check out PBS’s short video on why some people resist climate science.
Overly confident models?
In developing climate storylines on finance, Alessio has been using all sorts of models. That has gotten him reading on the current mismatch between the information climate models can provide and the information business and finance communities need for solid risk assessment. Listening to a podcast by Tracey Brown, Alessio became attentive to the dangers of models and data being presented as more precise than they are, which leads to false confidence in models’ predictions. “This is likely to become an even more pressing issue in the future as we will resort more and more to machine-learning models when making decisions,” Alessio believes.
An expensive manoeuvre
Raed was captivated by the Suez Canal blockage in March. The event dominated global news and highlighted the fragility of our global trade system. Raed found this BBC article examining the costs of this blockage especially enlightening. “This event was a reminder of how one disruption can have repercussions around the world,” he says. “And of how quickly and how much our systems can become unbalanced. It shows the importance of addressing remote hazards from a systemic point of view, as RECEIPT is doing through the climate storylines we are developing.
Stay tuned for our next reading recs!
Published on : 03 June 2021