It's so cool to see your old classmates published! It's also sad to see the conclusions be so dire.
It always amazes me that in the triumvirate of Environment, Politics, and Economics, it is so easy to discuss optimization of Political Economy, and so difficult to discuss Environmental Politics or Environmental Economics. I've come to the conclusion that the mental models in Economics and Politics both abstract further from the true underlying processes and make it easier to reason (and attempt to optimize for) the political economy models. Sadly, the environment resists simplified mental models because scientists actually understand the complexity, while political scientists and economists have a hard time developing policies, pricing structures, and cost models that can really handle the nuance of the environment as it actually exists.
It always amazes me that in the triumvirate of Environment, Politics, and Economics, it is so easy to discuss optimization of Political Economy, and so difficult to discuss Environmental Politics or Environmental Economics. I've come to the conclusion that the mental models in Economics and Politics both abstract further from the true underlying processes and make it easier to reason (and attempt to optimize for) the political economy models. Sadly, the environment resists simplified mental models because scientists actually understand the complexity, while political scientists and economists have a hard time developing policies, pricing structures, and cost models that can really handle the nuance of the environment as it actually exists.