Public or private sector: Who is better equipped to deal with climate change?

The Earth's climate is changing, and future generations will have to decide how to handle the impact of those changes, but how to deal with a changing climate is a topic that can be polarizing. 

Thoughts on whether the private sector or the public sector is better equipped to handle the growing impacts of climate change are varied, with government intervention and the Green New Deal on one side, and support for market-based responses through the private sector on the other.

With these arguments in mind, the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University will host, in partnership with Grand Valley's Koeze Business Ethics Initiative, a panel discussion and debate on the Green New Deal and future responses to climate change. 

Climate Change Happens: Now What? Debating the Green New Deal

Tuesday, February 18, 6 p.m.

Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center

GVSU Pew Grand Rapids Campus

401 Fulton Street West, Grand Rapids, 49504

Registration is requested at gvsu.edu/hc

A panel of six experts, three critical of the Green New Deal and three in support, will discuss climate change as it relates to adaptation and mitigation.

Experts critical of the Green New Deal will include: Jason Hayes, director of environmental policy, Mackinac Center for Public Policy; Kevon Martis, senior policy analyst, Interstate Informed Citizens Coalition; and Lisa Linowes, founder, windaction.org.

Experts supportive of the Green New Deal will include: John Kinch, executive director, Michigan Energy Options; Kelly Parker, professor of philosophy and director of the environmental studies program at Grand Valley State University; and Jan O’Connell, development director, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter.

Following remarks by the panelists, the audience will have an opportunity to speak with panelists and learn more about the topic of the event at a dessert reception with the panelists and other guests.

For more information, visit gvsu.edu/hc