St. Augustine was a Christian theologian and philosopher whose work was seminal in the development of Western Christianity and Western philosophy. He was also quite the libertine in his 20s and 30s. In addition to masterpieces like his autobiography, "Confessions," other bangin' quotes attributed to him include:

With respect to that quote, St. Augustine was talking about his wayward days pre-conversion to Christianity. But the same sentiment pops up in climate work, and especially policy, all the time in the 21st century. The stark reality of climate change and the 'sturm und drang' of the climate media discourse contrasts with policymaking that often ends up being, well, a bit tepid. Especially when we differentiate between carrots and sticks, where carrots are incentives and sticks are penalties. While the U.S. (and much of the West, really) loves incentivizing demand (carrots), it's wimpier on the 'sticks' side.

(for those of you who subscribe to premium already, you can sign in / continue reading here if the below doesn’t automatically load for you)