Climate Change and the Covid19 Pandemic: learning for the future

Walking in the forest, early March

Just a few weeks ago I was walking in a Cairngorm forest and the world seemed a very different place. We could go to work, go out when we wanted, travel to meet friends, to take holidays, visit pubs and restaurants. Yes we’d heard there was a virus spreading but it was a long way away. Then it reaches where we live, people are dying, losing their family, friends and jobs. We start to take notice! To act differently. The Government takes notice too and suddenly we are in lockdown with £billions being found to help where it is needed. We’ve seen that when threatened with a crisis, an existential threat, we can act, we can change. It is worth looking at the links between the existential threats of a global pandemic and those resulting from climate changes.

Both Covid19 (and other pandemics to come!) and climate change deliver shocks to our systems, to our ways of living and working. Both are non-linear, they start with small effects and grow rapidly to have major impacts world wide. Both increase the risk to people, business and the planet as a whole. Both are regressive, they impact on the poorest the most, those who can’t afford computers to work from home, those who don’t have the opportunity to self-isolate as they only have one room, those who are in low paid jobs and need to work, those who struggle to find food anyway. Both affect the rich who can afford to protect themselves, the least.

There are though key differences. The timescales are different. Viruses spread quickly, have a rapid impact. Climate change is gradual, though the factors causing or contributing to it are accumulative. As a result we face what some call ‘the tragedy of the horizon’, it is too far away so we have no sense of when or how bad it will get. Unlike with the current pandemic, we don’t wake up tomorrow with an understanding of the consequences. The fact is, and some countries, some people, are seeing and feeling this already, Climate Change will be a lot worse, last a lot longer and affect more people.

We know that Climate Change is what insurance companies term a ‘risk multiplier’. As storms hit, more places will be flooded, more coastlines will be submerged as sea levels rise. Droughts and fires will affect vast areas. In both instances crops will fail and food shortages will occur, not just in the poorer countries already affected by Climate Change but worldwide. We need to be developing systems that can endure, be resilient and yes as we’ve seen in the pandemic, there will be shortages, some people will panic buy so we need to have more mindful management of our future. Maybe as a result of the pandemic there will be more respect for science, but there will still be those in denial, including politicians who seek to bluff and bluster their way out of the crisis, those who seek to portray business and life as normal.

What is normal? We’re currently seeing more people working from home, travelling less, using technology more. As a result of the lockdown there is less traffic, less pollution less deaths from other causes such as seasonal flu or measles. Is this a new normal that people may prefer? Certainly the planet is benefiting, air and water quality is improved, we’re using less resources, could this be a new normal? We’re seeing what a cleaner world looks like, is it a world we want for our children and grand children? If so we need to ask for it, to hold our politicians to account.

The country is ours. We delegate the running of the country to our elected politicians to run on our behalf, but sometimes they forget this. We need to thank them for their service and remind them constantly who they represent and why. The first duty of any Government is to keep their citizens safe, have they done so during the pandemic? Will they do so in the face of climate change?

A big problem is the psychological impact of the pandemic and more and more that caused by climate change. We have a tendency to want to forget about the bad times, to want some version of ‘normal’ that we like. At the same time there are vested interests, persuading us and our politicians that we must return to a ‘normal’ where they maximise their profits and we keep buying. We need to counter this, to have a shift in consciousness, maybe a shift in ‘conscience-ness’, a state where we recognise and act on what is best for people and planet, a state that reflects how our communities can change, can come together for the good of the many rather than the profits of the few!

Looking Back

Looking back

There can be great value in looking back, not to dwell in the past but to see just how far we’ve come, the obstacles we’ve passed along the way. Our record of getting through each day is 100%, whether things have gone smoothly or to plan doesn’t really matter, after all good judgement comes from experience, but experience often comes from poor judgement and how we’ve reflected and learned from it. That’s the key, learning. If we get something right, if things go well we need to reflect and learn from this too, even if it was by accident, we can learn to recreate the conditions so the accident of good fortune keeps happening.

There are many things happening right now that we can learn from, but that means reflecting on what we see, what we experience and how we can if needed bring about change.  We are currently seeing great changes happening. The impact of Covid-19 isn’t only the illness and suffering caused though this can be catastrophic. We are also seeing how people, from Governments to local communities, can come together, can act quickly to provide support where needed. We can see how small shops can adapt to serve their customers, providing online and telephone ordering and home delivery services. People are discovering that they can avoid travel and use technology to facilitate meetings and learning. We are learning who are the key workers and recognising that they are more important than may have been recognised, how they are treated should reflect this. We are seeing that the companies and organisations that damage our planet through their business activities, from oil production to pollution are also the ones quickest to request government assistance even though they do everything they can to avoid paying the taxes which support society, especially in times of need.

Yes the pandemic may be causing harm, but it is also providing an opportunity to learn, to realise what is important to us and to plan a future where people and the planet are more valued than profits.