If we can put the whole world on pause to stop the #coronavirus , then we can also do the same for #climatechange ! Treat all crises like crises! @jamiemargolin pic.twitter.com/LWGC8s4Wz4
— Svein Tveitdal (@tveitdal) March 17, 2020
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/coronavirus-response-climate-crisis
BY JAMIE MARGOLIN
You know that gnawing feeling of “oh, God, we’re in the midst of something horrible” you have because of the coronavirus? Are you looking around at this crisis sweeping across the world and feeling helpless because you have limited power to stop it?
That’s how many of us have long been feeling about the climate crisis.
The way the world has been able to mobilize itself and shut down in the blink of an eye to properly respond to the coronavirus is proof that political leaders actually do have the ability to make rapid change happen if they want. So where is that rapid response for the climate crisis?
For years, climate justice activists like myself have been calling for immediate action on our climate emergency. And for years, that action has not taken place. Scientists have said that we have less than a decade to completely transform how our entire economy and world runs, transitioning over to renewable energy and sustainable agriculture. Yet we continue to plow ahead with business as usual, paving the way toward a future of extreme weather events, mass displacement, disease, famine, and death. That’s not hyperbole; those are the predictions and findings of experts who have devoted their careers to this issue.
So when we’re in the middle of such an existential crisis, why have there not been coronavirus levels of shutting down and completely rewiring our society? Every time I meet with lawmakers and tell them that we need rapid transformation to halt climate change, they tell me “change that fast just isn’t possible.” But the COVID-19 world response has proven that rapid change and disruption of business as usual is possible!
What would it look like when the world actually decides to take on the climate crisis? It would look like what we’re seeing right now. Media coverage of the issue 24/7. Consistent headlines about updated death tolls. Experts appearing on the news daily to update the public on the crisis. Everyone stopping everything and putting the world on pause to deal with the immediate crisis at hand. The coronavirus response is showing us how people can mobilize and do their part when it is properly communicated to them that we are indeed in an urgent crisis.
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Pandemic response is simply trying to mitigate a disaster, while urgent climate response is not only mitigating disaster, but actively creating a better world.
So where do we go from here? Once the coronavirus gets under control, the world cannot exhale and go back to normal. We need to move on to tackling the other deadly crisis that cannot wait.
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Related Link:
Jamie Margolin: “Solving the climate crisis goes against everything that our country was unfortunately built on, colonialism, slavery and natural resource extraction”
“I want the entirety of Congress, in fact the whole US government, to remember the fear and despair that my generation lives with every day, and I want you to hold onto it. How do I even begin to convey to you what it feels like to know that within my lifetime the destruction that we have already seen from the climate crisis will only get worse?”
“Everyone who will walk up to me after this testimony saying I have such a bright future ahead of me, will be lying to my face. It doesn’t matter how talented we are, how much work we put in, how many dreams we have, the reality is, my generation has been committed to a planet that is collapsing.”
“You have heard of the Reagan era; The New Deal era. Well, the youth are bringing about the era of the Green New Deal.” She demanded “urgent climate action” in order to “salvage life on earth” and begin “climate recovery.”
