Link to Interview. In her interview with Professer Goodman, HBS Professor Rebecca Henderson discusses the problem of climate change as it relates to a capitalist system. The main topic that I will remember from this interview in a year is the fact that, eventually, business models will come to fruition with the goal of mitigating risks associated with climate change. Even though the ideal time for this to happen was 20 years ago (or before), there is still hope that the effects of climate change can be diluted. In a capitalist system, when solutions are demanded, they will eventually come. After Henderson mentioned this, she briefly spoke about how each small pebble moving in this direction could cause an avalanche, shifting us to a more renewable, sustainable form of living. These are the changes that will come in society. As these technologies become more prevalent, more and more investment will be made into furthering them, as companies will find it cheaper, and more profitable, to invest in technology that is growing in demand and relevance. As socieyty progresses, I expect to see a massive shift towards a more sustainable future. It's comforting to know that this shift is coming, yet you are still left wishing that the change would come sooner.
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I also found the metaphor of the pebble moving to start an avalanche to be really insightful — kind of like the idea of the butterfly effect, a hurricane starting on the other side of the world from a butterfly flapping its wings. I think this is a great way to spur action by reminding people of the importance of their contributions to the fight against climate change — it can be very easy to become discouraged and feel like it doesn’t really matter what you do in the grand scheme of things, but this metaphor helps show the importance of even one person’s actions. Of course, this also applies to the development of new technologies and the placement of investments. Mitigating the effects of climate change is a collective action problem that must be solved by convincing people that their actions do in fact hold great importance.