FRIDAY APRIL 3, 2020
Amy Harder
Energy and climate change reporter at Axios
10 ways Coronavirus changing Energy and Climate Change
We had a robust conversation following her remarks, and Amy closed by offering us some thoughts from Peter Atwater, a behavioral economist, who has a framework, called the “Horizon Preference” for how we perceive the world based on our level of confidence. When confidence is high, we have a “us-everywhere-forever” mindset. When it’s low, it’s “me-here-now.” The former is where much of the world was as recent as a month ago. The economy was doing great, consumer confidence was high and the stock market was going up. He says this mindset fosters an eagerness to take on big global challenges. Whereas, the latter complex — “me-here-now” — is where we all suddenly find ourselves now, grappling with the corona crisis touching us all in immediate ways.
