We certainly live in strange times. Not many people predicted the impact the COVID19 virus would have on the planet. People are coming together (metaphorically), to share resources and support one another. But COVID19 is also sharing an important message about the impending climate crisis. The big question is, are we listening.
I am definitely not the only person asking this question, but is the COVID19 crisis a sneak peek of what's to come with the climate crisis? I want to explore what we can learn and how we might adapt. I don't intend to draw a link to the virus and changes in the climate (many people have already done that). But I intend to draw the comparisons between COVID19 and climate change.
The first thing to consider is how the two crises are similar. This is not an exhaustive list, but it gets the point across.
- Both have a global reach;
- Both disproportionately impact lower economic / social groups;
- Both have disbelievers who think that it won't impact them;
- Both have those who think that the impacts are overstated;
- And both require a high degree of buy-in if the worst of the impacts are to be avoided.
- COVID19 spreads very quickly and can jump from person to person very easily. Climate change is the opposite; it is very slow moving and the "symptoms" are harder to see.
- The novel Corona virus is one specific virus that infects you and makes you sick. Climate change is more like a syndrome, it has many different contributors that all together create a variety of issues.
- The solution to COVID19 is to not spread the virus, through distancing measures. The solution to climate change is... well there is no absolute consensus yet on a solution but it is likely going to have to be a myriad of things that will have to be done in concert with one another.
Coordination
Our first lesson is that our social and economic systems are a lot weaker than we thought they were. It didn't take much for hospitals to become over-run with sick people. Certainly some countries have fared better than others, but governments have tripped over their own bureaucracy in trying to coordinates their efforts. Even in Canada there are still so many questions about the role of the Provinces vs that of the Feds in ensuring that there are enough ventilators and testing kits.When it comes to climate change, we see this conflict already playing out with Federal Carbon pricing. Several provinces are currently trying to overturn the law in court. If the provinces and feds can't work together on issues like Carbon Pricing, then it is very likely that there won't be the kind of quick and decisive action needed for climate change.
Fear
It wasn't a huge surprised that when the whole COVID crisis was first announced, grocery stores were stormed for toilet paper, pasta, and yeast. Even after pleas from officials to keep calm, the stores couldn't stock their shelves quickly enough. I know this sounds pretty low tier; and although entertaining, toilet paper isn't really life or death. Real problems would come if we ran out of staple foods like wheat and potatoes... the kinds of crops that might be affected by a climate crisis.If pleas to the public couldn't stop them from buying more toilet paper than they needed, what is going to happen if people think we are running out of fresh fruit or clean water? If the COVID19 crisis is any indicator of how people are going to respond under stress, we are going to want to avoid the worst affects of climate change by any means possible. Prevention might be the only real alternative here.
System Fragility
This kind of goes without saying but things got really serious really quickly. There are so many things that we didn't have a handle on that demonstrated just how unprepared we were for a shock to the system. We quickly realized we didn't have enough people working in health care; we found out what happens when we don't properly fund our old folks homes; we had no idea how to help the homeless stay safe and physically distanced; we saw dramatic spikes in domestic abuse... the list goes on.All that from one virus. Now think about some of our perennial climate associated issues that are just around the corner as Spring approaches. Flooding is certainly going to be a problem in the coming weeks. The will be followed by forest fires in some parts of the country. We can only hope that it isn't going to be an overly hot summer if people are still stuck in their homes. The point is, our system is more fragile than we might want to admit. Taking stock of those weaknesses and shoring them up will help reduce climate related impacts.
* * * * *
That's the doom and gloom portion, but I would argue that there are so many positive lessons coming out of this crisis that we can't take for granted.Adaptation
When the governments of Canada provincial and federal) put out the call for help to fight COVID, thousands of Canadian companies stepped forward. There were of course traditional companies in health care who said they would increase capacity, but there were so many others who pivoted their production to start making masks, face-shields, hand sanitizer, etc... It goes to show that when required, we can adapt. |
| uOttawa engineering student Mohamed Elsageyer wearing his face shield prototype. (uOttawa Gazette) |
And not to take anything away from people outside of the manufacturing world, we have seen a tremendous capacity for teachers, artists, and administrators to completely change how they do business seemingly instantaneously. Schools and universities switched to online in under a month, conferences world-wide have switched to online, and musicians are performing on Youtube and Facebook live instead of in concert halls.
On a personal note, I have seen colleagues, that can only be described as technophobic, magically transform themselves into digital wizards; organizing video conferences while digitally signing documents and filing it away into the cloud, all from the comfort of their sofa.
If some of these habits can be retained, that means less traffic to go to the office, fewer pieces of paper coming out of the printer, and less travel to distant conferences. Just what the doctor ordered for combating climate change.
Civic Duty
People are stepping up left, right, and centre to combat COVID19 or to help out their community. Neighbours are picking up groceries for those who can't, health care workers are coming out of retirement, and let's not forget that billions of people who are fighting their personal desires to go outside and act like everything is normal again. People around the world have been able to dig deep and find a reason to not be selfish.This I feel that this point is the most important thing. Let's talk about messaging for a minute. If we compare messaging related to climate change and messaging for COVID19, what is it that convinced people to buy in and sacrifice to help others?
Think about it for a second. Which crisis am I referring to if I say "You need to change your habits to protect millions of people from suffering and death. I know it is hard, and that the economy is going to suffer, but it is for the greater good. In the long-term, you'll be happier".
I think you know that this statement refers to both... and yet COVID messaging seems to have caught on in a way that climate and environmental messaging hasn't.
Your first thought might be that COVID has the potential of a higher death count and so people are much more frightened and thus are taking action. But, the World Health Organization reports that approximately 7 Million people die every year because of poor air quality. Air pollution even has a frightening tag line, "the Invisible Killer". So why haven't we rallied around that?
Maybe you're thinking to yourself, the environment and the economy are at odds to we can't fight climate change without slowing the economy. Well, I think that this COVID crisis has taught us that there are a lot of other things that can destroy the economy completely if we don't manage them now.
So what is my thinking on this? Time scale. The COVID crisis is happening now, while climate change is later. We could beat this COVID thing in a year, but climate change is a multi-generational problem. It's hard to get behind something that you can't solve right away.
COVID 19 presents everyone with a very clear and present danger. The solution is is actually very simple, stay inside. This solution is actually perfect for so many reasons.
1) It is really easy to do. Just stay inside.
2) Everyone can do it. Well almost everyone, but certainly enough.
3) It is easy to understand. The virus spreads from person to person, so stop that from happening.
4) You see your role in the solution
And then beyond this, you still see how other things help out. You can sew a mask, check in on your neighbours, you can plant a garden, you can organize online board game night.
Climate change on the other hand doesn't have an easy solution in a reasonable time frame. It is hard to see how driving less will help your neighbour live linger, or how using electricity off-peak will reduce the amount of methane that makes it into the atmosphere, or how bringing your own reusable mug will signal to coffee chains that they can implement dynamic pricing on loyalty rewards that favour environmental outcomes.
The point is, simple and easy to understand instructions with a clearly defined goal and consequences, make it more likely that people will follow along. Maybe this is the most important lesson that COVID19 can teach us about climate change. Keep it simple, make sure people understand their role, and show them what success looks like.
