Town Hall Debate: Birmingham's response to climate change - how radical should it be?

Lunarman Sir Michael Lyons chaired a public debate at Town Hall on 14th October 2008. This was a Question Time-style discussion between the audience and an invited panel on the impacts of climate change, and how we should respond.

The Birmingham Post review of the debate can be read here. A transcript of the debate can be downloaded here.

This event was kindly sponsored by Martineau, Birmingham City Council, Anglian Water, Birmingham International Airport and Midland Heart. A flyer for this debate can be downloaded here.

The panelists were Nigel Lawson, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Henderson, former Chief Economist at the OECD, Julian Morris of the International Policy Network, Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre, Jacqueline McGlade Executive Director of the European Environmental Agency and Michael Meacher MP.

Sponsored by

An excellent summary of the economists' ethical dilemmas — discounting made (reasonably!) simple — is John Broome's SciAm article, The Ethics of Climate Change which helps illuminate economists' arguments about the Stern Review. More general background reading on climate change is the UN's GEO4 Report and the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.

This event is open to the public through Town Hall Box Office. Society members will have priority booking at a discounted rate . . . as well as the chance to put individual points of view in the public forum or in private conversation with Sir Michael and the panelists after the public event.