Sachs on Charlie Rose

Jeffrey Sachs was interviewed on Charlie Rose last week. Sachs is a Harvard-educated economist. Despite his credentials, he has a blind spot. When Rose asks about energy use, Sachs responds about climate change. The two problems are different. I just sent Mr. Sachs an email about his Rose interview; here's what I wrote:

I’m of the belief that peak oil [not climate change] is THE main problem our world faces in the next year or two, not 10 or 20 years hence.
Aren’t there economic models that conclude the worst? In your book and interviews, have you considered the work and [SciAm] article by Herman Daly, Economics in a Full World?
Since you use the word common in the title of your new book, I wonder if you’ve considered Garret Hardin’s essay, The Tragedy of the Commons, in your work.

Regarding impermanence

I'm not a Buddhist, but some of its assertions come close to those of modern science. In an earlier post, I remarked about its view about the rarity of human life. Another Buddhist tradition, this one from the Tibetans, is the sand mandala. After days of painstaking creation, the work is destroyed in an instant. One panel in the mandala video below is empty; is that a recognition of our imperfection?