We have just said goodbye to 2020, the year that will stay in our collective memories as totally dominated by news about Covid-19. One year on, the pandemic is still raging all over the globe. Luckily, vaccines are starting to be available, at least in the more affluent parts of the world. But we still have a long road to travel before we can achieve something resembling normality.
The start of a new year is off course a given time to look both back and forward. There has already been many comparisons between the Covid-19 pandemic climate change. Both are global crisis, both require dramatic transformations on both societal and personal level and they are also interlinked in many ways. As Jonathan Foley just recently wrote:
[Science] has warned us that changing environmental conditions were contributing to increasing disease threats. Numerous studies highlighted how infectious diseases could arise form deforestation, habitat and biodiversity loss, wildlife exploitation, the bushmeat and traditional medicine trade, confined animal agriculture and antibiotic misuse.
In the same way as we amplify storms and flooding by adding increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, we increase the likelihood of viruses and bacteria jumping from the animal world as new zoonotic diseases when we destroy natural habitats and push wildlife into close encounter with humans.
Still, Covid-19 has taught us that huge changes can happen very quickly. The rapid development of Covid vaccines is an example of how open science plus massive collaboration between academic scientists and pharmaceutical companies could create scientific breakthroughs that few thought possible a year ago. It shows the potential of technology to alleviate societal problems. But it also shows that there must be a willingness at all levels of society to heed the scientific advice and accept that facts are more solid than opinions. It doesn't matter if a vaccine can be developed, produced and distributed if in the end no one is around to give the injections and the people that need the vaccines have been so duped by the lies of an authoritarian wannabe dictator that they will refuse the cure.
One more analogy between climate and Covid is that both will put the worst burden on those who have contributed the least and already are marginalised. Indigenous communities, migrants and people of colour suffer more from climate change and have been more severely hit by the pandemic. Also, people doing the kind of essential work you cannot do in front of your computer and in the confinement of your home have also suffered hard from the disease. We can not solve climate change without climate justice and long term we can not solve pandemics without healthcare for all who need it.
So what can we really learn from Covid-19 when it comes to handling the enormous threats to both our individual health and societal stability if we can not stop global warming? Despite some decreases in the emissions of carbon dioxide during the last year, 2020 will still be the warmest year on instrumental record. When lockdowns are not enough to more than marginally lower emissions, it is clear that we need new ways to handle the climate challenge. To cite @EricHolthaus:
Let me be clear: 2020 wasn’t just a “bad year”, it was what happens when the people in power have spent centuries exploiting others to ensure their own comfort. The uncontrolled coronavirus epidemic wasn’t inevitable, just like the climate emergency wasn’t inevitable. Another world is possible. It won't happen magically. We have to demand it.
The question of personal change vs political and structural changes has been hotly debated among climate activists. We can take great initiatives and be role models as individuals but can only bring on real change together and collectively. Most importantly we must remember that hope is a verb. It's useless to pray for change, we create hope by action. And we need hope, since as Margaret Atwood puts it:
We must be a beacon of hope, because if we tell people there is no hope, they will do worse than nothing
We also need to hold on to our values and call out the people who are denying and delaying climate action. In Sweden we coined the term "Flygskam", Flight Shame. Shaming can have some effect and even before the pandemic we saw a marked reduction in both domestic and international flights in Sweden. But in the long run calling for accountability is better than shaming. And that is because accountability starts at the top with governments and corporations. We need to put pressure on both politicians and business to get action on reducing emissions, not only fair words. The fossil fuel industry and its lackeys will not go away without resistance and they must be hit where it hurts them most, the bottom line of the balance sheet. And those industries that do go for real change must be encouraged and supported.
However, accountability cannot stay on the top. As we have seen during the pandemic, for some people, the “right” to a great Black Friday deal is deemed so important that they cannot fathom that it may kill their grandmother and neighbour. People have been more concerned over delayed haircuts than the risk of disease and potential death and this behaviour must be called out. Accountability is also connected with climate justice since the carbon footprint is in no way equally distributed. As an example, when it comes to aviation emissions 1% of travellers contribute more than half of emissions. I have written before that there are a lot of people that needs to be grounded for good.
2020 was in many ways a year put on hold. Conferences and graduations, concerts and festivals, weddings and dance lessons all were cancelled and countries went into different degrees of lockdowns. There is of course a strong longing to regain some kind of normality in our lives. But climate change has continued unabated and there is no good future if we return to pre-pandemic way of life. Instead, as we enter 2021 it is time to double-down on activism and efforts to turn our fossil-fuelled and consumption bases society around. Because "we can use less energy and still have good lives".
We also need to have more politicians that embrace and support the shift towards the clear and green economy we need. And here we got some good news today from the senate runoff elections in Georgia USA. Both the senate seats were captured by democratic challengers against republican Trump followers. That was very good news in a traditionally republican southern state and it also means that president-elect Biden will have a far easier path to pursuing his political agenda. Given the strong climate agenda that Biden has promised to enact, this is good news not only for the US but for all of the world.
The major reason for turning Georgia Blue was the work led by democratic organiser @staceyabrams. She, together with others spent years on the ground organising and encouraging people to vote. That takes persistence, something that @sarahkendzior pointed to in the latest @gaslitnation podcast. And this brings a lesson also for the climate movement. In addition to the activism on the streets there is a need to more actively engage in politics, to make sure that politicians with a green agenda are voted in. There is also a need to have more people themselves taking part in the political process. As the @runforsomething movement states it, "Don't just march, run for something". Because in the long run, we need to transfer activism into budgets, laws and regulations that will steer our societies in a better direction.
My wish for the coming years is thus that we create hope by getting back the activism shown by #FridaysForFuture and other grass rot organisations (many led by young climate activists). But I also hope that there will be increased political activism, both directed towards present politicians and engaging new people to enter into politics.
PS
I wrote this before the US Capitol was attacked by terrorist encouraged by president Trump. Just hours earlier I listened to a special edition of @gaslitnation podcast following the democratic win in the #Georgia senate election. @sarahkendzior described the joy of that moment but also how scared she was for todays event in Washingon. Sadly, she was right as so many times before. We still don't know if there will be a peaceful transition to president Biden two weeks from now. It is a scary time US democracy. And it also clear that the US is still in its core a unequal country, just judging from the difference how Trump thugs were treated by police as compared to how #BlackLivesMatter protester have been teargassed, beaten and shot at during last years protest.
1 comment:
Well put!
Post a Comment