The virus’ biggest lesson? We are NOT ready for the climate emergency

Without a doubt, upon discovering the corona virus China reacted swiftly – building two huge hospitals in only two weeks and also placing 50 million citizens under quarantine. Certainly, these measures led to some success. Since February 19, in China, the number of newly recovered patients has been greater than the number of newly infected every day.

Because the health crisis still spread around the world, other countries too initiated drastic measures to combat the problem:  

·         At least 73 airlines canceled flights to China.

·         43 countries have enacted entry restrictions on travelers from South Korea.

·         Multiple countries called upon their citizens to refrain from unnecessary travel abroad.

·        After the number of people infected in Northern Italy soared to 130, the Italian government put 11 towns in the affected region on lockdown and Venetian authorities shut down the immensely popular Venice carnival. Also put on hold – the filming of Tom Cruise’s latest “Mission Impossible”-adventure of which a part was to be shot in Venice.

·         Japan and Italy closed down schools, and

·         In Europe, corporate emergency plans are forcing employees to work remotely.

Regardless of whether one considers these and other measures sufficient or not, undoubtedly, there is an obvious urgency about containing and solving the health crisis, probably also fueled by relentless, 24/7 media coverage questioning what more could or should be done.

Which makes this blogger wonder:

“Why are we not seeing a similar urgency regarding dealing with the climate emergency?”

Already, every year, natural disasters kill around 90,000 people and affect close to 160 million people worldwide.

But, that’s only the beginning. In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) predicted that the climate emergency would lead to 250,000 deaths per year; in 2020, the authors of a new report in the New England Journal of Medicine called this number a “conservative estimate.”

Yet, no airline is cancelling any flights because of the increasing climate emergency and no ministry is calling on anybody to refrain from unnecessary travel abroad; plus, there is no 24/7 debate on TV whether the government is doing enough to reign in the climate emergency. In fact, in 2019, broadcast networks covered the climate crisis just 0.7% of the time.

The answer to my question seems to be James Carville’s most famous phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid.” 

Whereas we cannot put a number on the damage climate disasters will cause in the future we know the financial damage the corona virus causes right now. China is a manufacturing powerhouse and the world's second largest economy. As a result 94% of the Fortune 1000 are seeing coronavirus supply chain disruptions. Not surprisingly, these problems are reflected on stock markets worldwide.

But, again, I ask: What does this tell us with respect to the climate emergency?

China gets hit by typhoons quite frequently. If, in the future, the climate emergency will produce more super typhoons it will affect the economy and, additionally, cause damage to Chinese infrastructure which we don’t see during this health crisis. 

Even worse, the climate emergency can produce multiple disastrous weather events in a row and in multiple countries, simultaneously. In 2020, which is only in its second month, Australia suffered catastrophic damage from bush fires, ash rain, dust storms, flash flooding, and one hailstorm that produced golf ball sized hail. [Video] Right around the same time, the United Kingdom felt the impact of bomb cyclone Dennis, and winter storm Ciara/Sabine tore through Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, and Poland.

“Amateurs talk about strategy. Professionals talk logistics.” – Gen. Omar Bradley

While I am neither a doctor nor an economist I have been involved with logistics and project planning one way or the other almost my entire life. Thus, I believe that the corona virus crisis demonstrates in the most obvious way that the world is woefully ill-prepared for dealing with the climate emergency.

If right now, the supply of face masks is a problem how will we deal with water and food shortages due to disastrous climate events, food scarcity, agricultural degradation, and/or resulting violent conflicts?

And, that’s just the most obvious problem because while we may not need face masks all of us do need food.

The financial industry too is well aware of this real problem. A leaked document from JP Morgan's economists, dated January 14, 2020, warns that "although precise predictions are not possible, it is clear that the Earth is on an unsustainable trajectory. Something will have to change at some point if the human race is going to survive."  

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Thus, my advice, if you want to worry about the big crisis or want to bash the US government on social media, take aim at the impeding catastrophes the climate emergency will cause and wonder how your children will survive.

And: Don’t idle your car! It’s the easiest way to deprive the fossil fuel industry of money they are used to earn.

As the corona virus crisis shows depriving industries of financial gains seems to be the fastest way to get their attention and to prompt the world to react decisively. 

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Gisela Hausmann is a creative provocateur, nonfiction writer, and environmentalist. Her work has been featured in regional, national, and international publications including Success magazine and Entrepreneur, and on Bloomberg's podcast "Decrypted."

She tweets @Naked_Determina.

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© 2020 by Gisela Hausmann