TED Talks: To save the climate we have to reimagine capitalism

 

“Business is screwed if we don’t fix climate change,” says economist Rebecca Henderson. In this bold talk, she describes how unchecked capitalism destabilizes the environment and harms human health — and makes the case for companies to step up and help fix the climate crisis they’re causing. Hear what a reimagined capitalism, in which companies pay for the climate damage they cause, could look like.

 

 

Rebecca Henderson is obsessed with finding solutions to climate change.

 

Why you should listen

Rebecca Henderson is a professor at Harvard Business School. Before that, she was a professor at MIT where she learned that anything is possible. Her research focuses on the role the private sector can play in building a more sustainable economy, particularly how purpose-driven firms can help rebalance capitalism. For several years she taught a course on capitalism that served as the basis for her book, Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire, which was recently shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year. Despite the dire nature of the climate, she insists on remaining hopeful, quoting Howard Zinn: “To be hopeful in hard times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.” Henderson believes that we can and will solve climate change.

 


 

Source TED Talks

November 24, 2020