Lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic are applicable to the climate crisis
Written by Communitopia Blogger, Erin Bell
We’re approaching the one year mark since the onset of a worldwide pandemic, and it’s a natural time to take pause and reflect. It was a chaotic, unprecedented, and at times grueling year. But here we are having weathered the trauma and hardships, finally taking the first steps towards recovery with the rollout of a vaccine.
Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic isn’t the only crisis we’re facing. Climate change is regarded by many as the single greatest threat to human existence as we know it. Much like Covid-19, climate change presents an urgent threat to public health--medically, economically, and socially. Both issues have been heavily politicized. Both are plagued by misinformation. Both disproportionately affect certain populations. And finally, addressing each of these issues will require highly complex and integrated problem-solving measures.
With so many parallels between the climate change crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic, it makes sense that we think about how the lessons we’ve learned over the past 12 months can apply to the ongoing management of global warming. Here are a few fundamental truths that were made abundantly clear in 2020.
Everything is connected in our global ecosystem.
Everything within our global ecosystem operates in a delicate balance. Our physical earth, the beings that live on it, the energy that powers our society, our health, the social structures we live within, our businesses, the economy, essential resources like water and food...these things are all intricately and inextricably connected, each having untold effects on the others. Consider the very definition of the word ecosystem: a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment; a complex network or interconnected system.
We can’t pretend that everything exists within a vacuum. Covid-19 is not solely a health issue, much like global warming is not only an issue of science and earth systems. These crises have cascading and compounding effects that will permeate every arena of human existence: access to food and water; economic opportunities; physical safety and health; the laws and policies under which we operate; our choices as consumers.
Consider for a moment the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. Current scientific research suggests the distinct possibility that this pandemic began when an animal virus jumped to humans. In other words, zoonotic disease. This doesn’t happen accidentally or overnight, but rather is set into motion by a chain of events and human behaviors. Urbanization and deforestation displace animals from their habitat, and agriculture and livestock farming are being pushed to unsafe extremes---all significant contributors to the spread of zoonotic disease.
Leaders from the UN, WWF, and WHO collectively stated: “We have seen many diseases emerge over the years, such as Zika, Aids, Sars and Ebola and they all originated from animal populations under conditions of severe environmental pressures...these outbreaks are manifestations of our dangerously unbalanced relationship with nature. They all illustrate that our own destructive behavior towards nature is endangering our own health – a stark reality we’ve been collectively ignoring for decades.”
It is imperative that we recognize the interconnectedness of humans and the natural world. We must quit putting our planet under such pressurized conditions...and this of course includes limiting global warming.
The importance of collective action.
Mitigating the spread of Covid-19 is possible only when the masses participate in masking and social distancing (and eventually, vaccinating). If the number of people following CDC guidelines is low, then the effectiveness of these prevention measures will be low too.
The same applies to fighting the climate crisis. If only a small group of people advocate for sustainable living and climate-friendly policies, then making real progress becomes very difficult. We must all move forward with intention and commitment to addressing climate change. We must all participate and buy in...with our lifestyle choices, with our consumption of goods and resources, and with any political or social leverage that we have, including our votes.
No action is too big or small. We need you, and your friends! Communitopia is here to support and empower all community members to learn how they can become voices for climate action.
Good leadership is critical.
Yes, personal responsibility and individual accountability are necessary ingredients in managing the crises we face. But the most imperative solutions--for both the Covid-19 pandemic and climate emergency--will come from the top down: from our government officials, community leaders, policy-makers, social institutions, and corporations. We need to know who our leaders are and what they stand for. We need to ensure that we’re placing the right people in positions of power. And we need to hold those leaders accountable in guiding us towards a place of safety, equity, and progress.
When it comes to addressing the climate crisis, we hope that the lessons of the past year can inform our actions and decisions moving forward. As they say, experience is the best teacher.
