A side effect of the Covid-19 pandemic is that it has given us a glimpse of a greener life where air is sweet to breathe, skies are blue, rivers are clean and birds sing louder than traffic. It could all prove a passing blip. However, the pandemic has hammered in our collective vulnerability to Nature if we don’t respect certain boundaries. Next time the destruction of an animal’s habitat radiates a pathogen through humanity, it could be a worse nightmare. That is why experts are putting emphasis on flattening both the pandemic and climate change curves.
It takes science to flatten the curve. But the tide of populist politics that has gripped the world today distrusts science and disregards experts; it does not see beyond what is immediately tangible and thrives within its bubble of denial. Till something comes along to burst that bubble, like the pandemic did. Thus, rich America has fallen the most ill because advance warnings about a broad outbreak of a contagious disease were disregarded. Powerful China continues to scorn cries to shut its wet markets, or permit scrutiny of how the pandemic originated. This is self-destructive behaviour. Similar refusal to address climate change with concerted global force, feels like a Suicide Pact of 7 Billion.
Fifty years ago the Earthrise photo taken from space inspired people to observe the first Earth Day. Yet the intervening years have seen three quarters of all human CO2 emissions and three quarters of all global warming since preindustrial times. Here, the corona pandemic and climate change are different kinds of global crises. The second is neglected because it burns much slower. But it will wreak greater havoc for generations ahead. And unlike the first, there is no vaccine or therapy that can be conceived once it hits us.
So if worldwide efforts to avert the worst effects of climate change are left till later, it will be too late. Governments must start opting for greener solutions today. And when they return to the COP26 table, it should be with new resolve for change. Once we are hit by the deluge, it will be too late. No lockdowns will work at that point. On the positive side, perhaps the pandemic will alert us to the destructive effects we humans can have on Nature, and therefore to the climate emergency that confronts us.
This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
TOI Edit
Times of India’s Edit Page team comprises senior journalists with wide-ranging interests who debate and opine on the news and issues of the day.
