I am not alone in seeing parallels between the threat posed by the virus on one hand and advancing climate change on the other. Unfortunately, the only fundamental difference between the two crises is how we deal with them. To contain the spread of covid-19, heads of state and regional politicians are imposing measures that become more drastic by the day. But when it comes to the climate crisis, hope seems to be the guiding principle: at some point we will come up with something that prevents or reverses climate change; the main thing is to keep the economy roaring and not make any serious changes!
The volume of traffic on the road, in the water and in the air has fallen sharply, since people started limiting their travel to what is really necessary. People vacation mainly in their own countries, undertake long-distance travel only once a year at most, and then with the smallest possible carbon footprint. Consumption is regionally focused to strengthen the local economy. Slightly higher prices are not a problem at all, because everything superfluous and wasteful is avoided. A nice steak from or some exotic fruit or vegetables are an occasional treat. On the whole, people enjoy the unhurried pace of society, friendly interaction at the office and in the streets and emission-free fresh air.
This may sound like some distant utopia, but it could soon be reality if, yes, if we can finally learn from the current crisis, draw the right conclusions and take the right courses of action.
But will the coronavirus really have the power to bring about these economic and social upheavals in a more extreme and rapid way than a youth and climate movement could ever do?
When each and every one of us, including the decision-makers themselves, is directly affected - a number of prominent politicians are already infected with the novel coronavirus – it is suddenly possible to impose and implement cuts that would have been completely unthinkable before. And yet the consequences of climate change and pollution of our air and water are already far more deadly than a viral infection ever will be. Every day, countless people - young and old - die as a result of our destructive actions and unbridled consumerism. The big difference is only that it is happening far away and almost unnoticed, and that a large part of the populations of wealthy industrial nations do not seem to be affected by it.
Currently, coronavirus is public (and economic) enemy number 1, even though in truth climate change has long since held that dubious distinction and will continue to do so for a long time to come.
"Covid-19 beats Fridays for Future" applies in two ways. The pandemic and associated restrictions have achieved what many critics and some politicians have failed to do: the Friday demonstrations have been cancelled! Now the protests continue on social networks, but of course this does not have the same impact as mass rallies on streets around the world. The current situation seems like a foretaste of what we could face were the climate crisis to escalate; a kind of dress rehearsal, if you like. However, our performance here still leaves much to be desired. Our civilization has been caught off guard by the corona epidemic, and the scale and scope of the necessary response has for some time been greatly underestimated. The countermeasures came suddenly and inevitably led to chaotic conditions.
We are witnessing a demonstration of the fragility of our economic system and how quickly it can be thrown off kilter by an unexpected event, causing people and markets to react irrationally. Nobody seemed prepared for such a crisis; there were no fully developed plans for dealing with a pandemic affecting nearly every aspect of the globalized, networked world. Initial panic and chaos are understandable; after all, our jobs, our consumption, our social contacts – in short, our very freedom and prosperity – are likely at stake!
Now, hopefully we will learn a lesson from this, make a genuine fresh start after the pandemic, and not revert completely to old patterns of behavior and our resource-destroying lifestyle. We are beginning to realize that there is another way. The world will not come to an immediate end if we consume a little less, travel a little less, or party a little less. To restore stability to our system, we need to make even greater adjustments - we now face the challenge of radically transforming our economic system. Resilience is a much-cited term in connection with the local economy, but it also applies to ecosystems. It describes the ability to overcome disruptions and difficult life situations without lasting damage. This is something our system clearly lacks.
But we can learn a lot from the present crisis; all we need is the courage to do the right thing and let something new, more resilient, and more sustainable emerge from it.
At the moment it still seems there is no political will to enforce what is right and necessary, but only what meets with a broad consensus; in other words, what is capable of winning a majority. For government officials, maintaining power and electability always seem to win out over the common good. Protecting the population from coronavirus is apparently a matter of consensus and justifies drastic measures. But so much more is possible!
Once this crisis is behind us, many restrictions should of course be lifted again. What should remain, however, is an awareness of the impending threat of climate change. The experience that life goes on even when consumption is constrained, should be drawn upon - we just need to get organized and help each other. We need to continue digitalizing the world of work, while at the same time reducing our dependence on international flows of goods. Both of these things, if implemented properly, will produce deep cuts in CO2 emissions.
Let's be honest: the coronavirus pandemic has a much greater positive impact on global CO2 emissions than a whole year of Friday demonstrations and political work by the environmental movement combined - let's take advantage of it!
Overview of the price points by technology in March 2020 including the changes over the previous month (as of March 16, 2020):
