by Karen Rudin, AWC Zurich
The recent COVID-19 crisis was only a couple of weeks old when the media began reporting one unexpected positive effect. Worldwide greenhouse gas emissions were markedly reduced and the atmosphere less polluted as a result. As well as being good news in itself, this was an inkling that the corona crisis and the climate crisis are linked. Recognition of more linkages followed, not only of causes and effects, but also similarities between the two crises. Both are global in scope and require international cooperation and respect for scientific facts. Both are unprecedented in the scope of disruption they bring to society, and both require coordinated efforts and long-term thinking on the part of politicians, scientists, the business world and society itself for their solution. Climate change threatens broad natural and human systems, among them health networks. As was noted in the Economist, “Following the pandemic is like watching the climate crisis with your finger jammed on the fast-forward button.” (Economist, May 21, 2020)
As time went on, another parallel became evident. It is the poor and the disadvantaged who have been hardest hit by corona, and it is just those who will suffer the most as the climate crisis continues to unfold. We began to see that corona isn’t just a health issue, and of course the climate crisis doesn’t just affect the environment. The climate crisis can be seen as the major public health threat of our time. Both are going to require broader and more fundamental changes if they are to be mitigated.
Lack of respect for nature
At this point we should look at another cause and effect relationship: that of a deep lack of respect for nature and its part in causing corona devastation and environmental destruction. We pave over, build, cut back and generally encroach on wilderness, so that animals in the wild increasingly lose their habitats and move closer to our habitats. It is inevitable that zoonoses, diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, are on the rise, among them COVID-19.
As we got deeper into the corona crisis, all sorts of cascading effects became clear. The most obvious was economic disruption, all the way from soaring unemployment to the
threat of worldwide recession. The immediate worry was the enormous cost of imposing lockdowns: would they prove disastrous to the economy? It took a few cost-benefit analyses to answer that no, drastic action at the beginning would in fact be worth the costs, economically as well as socially. In a world where the enormous cost of fighting climate change is often touted as a reason to do nothing, it was fervently hoped that business and political leaders would get the parallel message that spending now would lead to clean air and green jobs later.
Lockdown’s positive effects??
Having taken a deep breath and pledged millions to prevent corona deaths, has society experienced any other positive effects of the various lockdowns? Yes indeed. Economic aid on a huge scale became necessary to prevent social disaster, and voices were loud and clear in all sectors of society that this aid presents an excellent chance to create a new green deal. A petition introduced by Greenpeace, for example, sees corona-related economic aid being part of the European Green New Deal. (Greenpeace) Seventeen European climate and environment ministers have asked the European Commission to put the Green New Deal at the heart of the recovery after the pandemic. Hundreds of companies globally have signed open letters to world leaders, requesting the assurance that economic stimulus packages will be applied to the impacts of the coronavirus and the climate crisis.
A new way forward?
Has the corona crisis shown us other behaviors that we would like to see continue? A few practical ones come to mind: less travel and consumption, mutual help and social solidarity, appreciation of nature, greater respect for healthcare workers, greater interest in healthy food and its origins and processing. On the social scene, young people have recently been the source of information and action demanding climate change with the same gravity as their elders now feel about COVID-19, perhaps making mutual understanding and cooperation possible.
COVID-19 has thrown a glaring spotlight on social inequalities, most notably the need for universal health coverage. Various international human rights agreements make it mandatory for countries to protect their citizens’ right to health, and the Paris Agreement draws a connection between action on climate change and promotion of the right to health.
Perhaps most heartening is the fact that “if COVID-19 is a precautionary tale, it is also a crash course in the possible” (WEF, June 9, 2020). Our worldwide community has acted to work through the crisis, showing that all aspects of society, from the individual to governments, can pitch in and make radical changes to behavior. One hopes that this cooperation and determination can coalesce into the resoluteness to make the fundamental changes necessary to face the huge challenges of the climate crisis.
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Photos from Pixabay
