Let’s start from the First Law of Ecology which posits,
‘Everything is Connected to Everything Else.’
The staggering global alarm, panic and mortality associated to the recent Corona pandemic outbreak leaves much to be desired. Yes the writing is on the wall that currently the global system response to the 2019 novel corona virus (COVID-19) alias the disease that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has opened a can of worms. Generally speaking with COVID-19, the world has been caught napping , politicians guilty as charged for politicking especially on climate change and businesses negligent to prioritize people and planet . Sorry, the World is Closed Today.
Historically speaking the World has been hit with severe disasters, environmentally and financially causing great havoc in many societies. For example, tracking back the 1918 ‘Spanish Flu’ which resulted in an unprecedented number of mortality's alas that period lacked the technological innovation to what we have now in broadband sharing, internet in short. Today, with the almighty power of internet and social media, communication on climate change and pandemics is easily disseminated across the world in all lingua’s. The World today with the power of technology the World has moved from the ‘word in the street’ to ‘post on the internet’ that we are all supposed to socially distance, maintain good hygiene , wash our hands thoroughly with soap with sanitizer to avoid the spread of the virus. Unprecedented actions today to curb the virus , government leaders have recommended some borders/airport to be shut not by building a wall but communication and flights cancellation irrespective of race, ethnicity , or gender to control the virus. Today, measures to work entirely from home are highly recommended with all disclaimers from home drama’s accepted. Today unprecedentedly , some wealthy governments are paying out corona contingency checks to her citizenry to weather the tides during the corona crisis. Phew!
The listing of actions and measures for weathering the tides for the spread of COVID-19 are well received across the world, championed by the World Health Organization and our unsung heroes in the health professionals receiving unprecedented accolades for the filling in to work normally as always saving lives during this crisis. Yes, all kudos well-deserved to the health professions saving lives today and as always!
Getting back to the first law of ecology ‘everything is connected to everything else.’ While the growing activism for climate change demanded that government, leaders and business corporation implement such unprecedented equal measures as COVID-19 to combat climate change little effort has been done since the first IPCC report AR-1 going into the IPCC sixth warning edition. Shocking in over a month, the aviation industry currently in quarantine contributes to more than 2% of the global greenhouse gas emissions, COVID-19 has really shown the real picture of addressing the climate crisis. Today, China the top emitter of the global greenhouse gases, its emissions intensity have lowered by 25% related to in-bound and out-bound flights, yes 25% lower. This is all related to addressing ‘social distancing’ for the COVID-19 by the way not related to addressing the climate crisis. Today, just in Oslo where I currently reside, public transportation has reduced by ‘97%’ per cent with atleast an average of 5 people commuting per city transportation service buss , trams and the metro. This too, as a carbon analytic fanatic has lowered the emissions intensity in Oslo and many other places taking #socialdistancing or #stayhome measures to reduce the spread for COVID-19.
Just as climate change, the corona virus is human-induced or related to human activities. The Corona virus will pass, but the climate crisis will continue if we reset to the business as usual after this crisis. Today over 300K people globally are affected by COVID-19 and the number continues to rise daily and resulting in mortality mostly in Italy. Whilst climate change is not contagious as the COVID-19 we should treat it as equal. Today millions of people have been displaced due to environmental crisis and impacts of climate change. The ‘unaccounted’ mortality rates related to climate change is unimaginable especially in developing countries which are more at high risks including for COVID-19. As the world continues to fight the scourge in Corona virus , we should be aware that the climate crisis is still the greatest threat to humanity. Again as per the IPCC recommendation calls for UNPRECEDENTED measures in all sectors are needed to tackle climate change.
The ‘Carbon Corona’ is not contagious but deserved to be treated with the same gloves as COVID-19. When the rising temperatures ignites the wild fires, that alone calibrates social distancing at scale among communities, and puts nature in demise and wild animals left to die in clouding smoke. Let the COVID-19 be a wake up call to the global system. Again let the lesson learned from COVID-19 be an example that yes we can take unprecedented actions for the climate crisis too before its too late.
Everything is Connected to Everything Else so is Climate Change and the Corona Virus, all connected to human activities!
#climatecrisis #coronavirus #carboncorona #climatechange #socialdistancing #stayhome #quarantine #washyourhands
