Sky Eclat
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 17, 2012
- 57,761
- 216,011
Crisis Which Crisis?
While our government adopted a mad scientist approach to the virus crisis; a nationwide experiment in herd immunity - usually only done with vaccines (of which there are none)… abandoned this week in the face of modelling showing 260k deaths as a result…..the virus moved rapidly this week from being a health crisis to being an economic one (as well).
Government’s around the world weighed in with huge economic support measures
The £12 billion pledged by our new Chancellor always looked pitiful against the 300 and 400 billion Euros of France and Germany - days later ours is now £330 billion.
We've been consistently behind the science and the curve (of other countries experience) - only the US makes us look relatively good and that’s not a high bar these days.
This virus is bringing economic upheaval on a scale not seen before - in peacetime anyway.
It’s also bringing radical changes to how we live.
Flying has all but stopped, along with most forms of travel - the roads were quiet before schools shut, they’ll be even more so now. Home working has become a big thing and mobile network data use jumped 50% this week as a result, causing problems. Air quality is improving. And these changes are having rapid effects in nature.
Dolphins are returning to the Italian coast, the canals of Venice are crystal clear and wildlife is returning - it’s an amazing thing to see in such a short time of reduction in human activity.
It shows how rapidly we can bring change to the natural world, the environment that supports all life - when we have cause.
I’m hoping that some of these forced changes endure, that they cause a rethink of how we live and why we do things - if nothing else this crisis show us there is 'another way to live'.
And it shows us what we are capable of.
We can reduce flying and driving, chuck incredible sums of money into the economy, work as a group of people with a super common interest - the type of things that usually come up in conversations about why fighting the climate crisis is going to be so hard - and actually only normally occur in times of war.
The climate crisis has always suffered from being a remote event, distant - in time and space (happening elsewhere) - this virus is right here right now and look what we are capable of. I get it’s not at all easy, I’m coming to that.
Consider also to the 40k deaths a year from air pollution (just in the UK, 8 million worldwide) - where’s the Cobra meeting for that or sense of national emergency? We just live with it……well not all of us. We are literally killing ourselves with our current way of life.
This quote stood out for me this week;
"The government actions necessary to address this crisis will have enormous costs,” the letter, signed by Walmart boss Doug McMillon, said. “However, failure to act boldly now will impose far greater costs to our country and our future.”
This is not a quote about the Climate Crisis, but it could easily be - serious economists have already made this point. This guy is talking about the virus in the US.
We know the cost of our part in fighting the Climate Crisis, the recent Climate Change Committee report sets out our pathway to net zero emissions by 2050 - putting a price tag on it.
Roughly £1 trillion over a 30 year period (call it £30 billion a year). It used to sound like a lot of money.
This week our government announced we will spend £330 Billion (and rising) to fight the virus crisis - this is 10 years of a zero carbon budget, or climate crisis budget - in one year.
The cost of fighting the climate crisis - a far bigger threat in fact - is small by comparison, yet we baulk at it. Or we did, before this. The behavioural changes required are small in comparison too.
And bear in mind that it’s not all cost - achieving net zero comes with some incredible environmental spin offs - clean air, land and water - a huge health benefit and cost saving. And a massive return of nature to our country.
Austerity, Brexit and Coronavirus are all reversible survivable events - for most of us (not all of course). The Climate Crisis is bigger than all of them put together - and some.
To avert it we don’t need the drastic changes to lifestyle that we are seeing now and we don’t need the enormous sums spent - fractions of both actually will do the job - but that’s still much more than we are used to. Until now.
I hope after this crisis is over, we get to grips with the bigger crisis with the same can do (or must do) attitude.
While our government adopted a mad scientist approach to the virus crisis; a nationwide experiment in herd immunity - usually only done with vaccines (of which there are none)… abandoned this week in the face of modelling showing 260k deaths as a result…..the virus moved rapidly this week from being a health crisis to being an economic one (as well).
Government’s around the world weighed in with huge economic support measures
The £12 billion pledged by our new Chancellor always looked pitiful against the 300 and 400 billion Euros of France and Germany - days later ours is now £330 billion.
We've been consistently behind the science and the curve (of other countries experience) - only the US makes us look relatively good and that’s not a high bar these days.
This virus is bringing economic upheaval on a scale not seen before - in peacetime anyway.
It’s also bringing radical changes to how we live.
Flying has all but stopped, along with most forms of travel - the roads were quiet before schools shut, they’ll be even more so now. Home working has become a big thing and mobile network data use jumped 50% this week as a result, causing problems. Air quality is improving. And these changes are having rapid effects in nature.
Dolphins are returning to the Italian coast, the canals of Venice are crystal clear and wildlife is returning - it’s an amazing thing to see in such a short time of reduction in human activity.
It shows how rapidly we can bring change to the natural world, the environment that supports all life - when we have cause.
I’m hoping that some of these forced changes endure, that they cause a rethink of how we live and why we do things - if nothing else this crisis show us there is 'another way to live'.
And it shows us what we are capable of.
We can reduce flying and driving, chuck incredible sums of money into the economy, work as a group of people with a super common interest - the type of things that usually come up in conversations about why fighting the climate crisis is going to be so hard - and actually only normally occur in times of war.
The climate crisis has always suffered from being a remote event, distant - in time and space (happening elsewhere) - this virus is right here right now and look what we are capable of. I get it’s not at all easy, I’m coming to that.
Consider also to the 40k deaths a year from air pollution (just in the UK, 8 million worldwide) - where’s the Cobra meeting for that or sense of national emergency? We just live with it……well not all of us. We are literally killing ourselves with our current way of life.
This quote stood out for me this week;
"The government actions necessary to address this crisis will have enormous costs,” the letter, signed by Walmart boss Doug McMillon, said. “However, failure to act boldly now will impose far greater costs to our country and our future.”
This is not a quote about the Climate Crisis, but it could easily be - serious economists have already made this point. This guy is talking about the virus in the US.
We know the cost of our part in fighting the Climate Crisis, the recent Climate Change Committee report sets out our pathway to net zero emissions by 2050 - putting a price tag on it.
Roughly £1 trillion over a 30 year period (call it £30 billion a year). It used to sound like a lot of money.
This week our government announced we will spend £330 Billion (and rising) to fight the virus crisis - this is 10 years of a zero carbon budget, or climate crisis budget - in one year.
The cost of fighting the climate crisis - a far bigger threat in fact - is small by comparison, yet we baulk at it. Or we did, before this. The behavioural changes required are small in comparison too.
And bear in mind that it’s not all cost - achieving net zero comes with some incredible environmental spin offs - clean air, land and water - a huge health benefit and cost saving. And a massive return of nature to our country.
Austerity, Brexit and Coronavirus are all reversible survivable events - for most of us (not all of course). The Climate Crisis is bigger than all of them put together - and some.
To avert it we don’t need the drastic changes to lifestyle that we are seeing now and we don’t need the enormous sums spent - fractions of both actually will do the job - but that’s still much more than we are used to. Until now.
I hope after this crisis is over, we get to grips with the bigger crisis with the same can do (or must do) attitude.
