I really don't think cost-benefit analysis is going to sway very many people. A lot of people continue to believe in the idea that humans are wholly rational, calculating, utility maximizing individuals, and thus if we just show them how much money they can save, they'll support climate mitigation efforts. But this model of rational economic man is wrong. Maybe it describes some people well enough, but I think it's a poor representation of how most people think and behave.

Humans are not wholly "rational." We are often influenced by emotions and our passions that can be decidedly irrational. But the thing I really take issue with is this continued narrative that humans are fully atomized individuals. It absolutely needs to stop, it's simply untrue. Humans are social, hyper social, even. We form all sorts of interconnected relationships, we depend on them, even, and we are highly tribal by our nature. It is how we evolved, it is how we survived. We are here because our ancestors formed tightly connected groups of people, with common purpose, common culture, common language, and common belief systems.

Do you know why so many people continue to deny climate change and fight against climate mitigation efforts? Because it's what their tribe tells them to do. They are being told by the members of their tribe that they respect and admire that climate change is a hoax perpetuated by an enemy tribe. They're being told that climate mitigation efforts are an attack on their culture, their way of life, and they're being told this by bad actors who deliberately use people's tribal nature against them, to manipulate the people into supporting them and their interests. We need to use culture for progress, so that it can't be weaponized against progress.

The sooner we shit-can the rational economic man model and start seeing people for what they really are: social beings who are highly motivated by emotions and passions, and the sooner we recognize the importance of culture and group identity, the closer we'll be to an actual solution.