Fight Climate Change Like COVID-19

COVID-19 killed seven million people around the world since it first hit in March 2020. Many experts believe that is too low because it is hard to make an exact count, particularly in the poorest countries. The first vaccines were released in December of that year, and they became widely available in early 2021. It had taken less than a year to slow one of the most dangerous threats to mankind in modern history. The same can be done with climate change.

Reported in the journal “Context,” Jean-Claude Burgelman, Director of the Frontiers Planet Prize, wrote that climate change is on its way toward ruining part of humanity and that the effects will be devastating in just a few decades. If the world’s governments and scientists do not band together in a full push toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there is no chance that temperatures will do anything other than reach higher. 

Every Man For Himself

“The COVID response provided us with the template, showcasing how scientific breakthroughs supported by strong political will, robust funding, and cross-sector partnerships can deliver progress at pace,” Burgelman wrote. Today, plans for the climate differ from country to country and pharm company to company. Global alliances to address climate change have started to fall apart. 

Burgelman is probably right. The US has withdrawn from several climate change-fighting organizations. India and other coal-producing nations continue to burn record amounts of coal to keep their GDPs rising. It has become an “everyman for himself.” This is, without question, an extremely dangerous approach, but not one that will change.

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