Time to Act is Now – the way I see it!
For British Columbia, Canada, and the rest of the world – time for us to act is now. Mother-nature, through COVID-19, has shown us how vulnerable and fragile we humans are. It has shown us how dependent we are on so many other interconnected systems, processes, and lives on this planet we call Earth. Billions of dollars of economic relief funds have been established across the globe and more are in the making to deal with the pandemic. Whether this relief will help us become resilient or more dependent on governments can be debated but it is well-intentioned, at least for now. At the end of the day, it is intended for ‘people who are genuinely’ being impacted, from an economic standpoint, because of COVID-19. People who have lost their jobs or earnings. People who live paycheck to paycheck. People who have exhausted their savings after losing an earning potential. I hope that the people or businesses who have millions of dollars in their savings are not getting any of these reliefs because if they are then not all of us are not in this together. Anyway, that is a topic that I have talked about in the past and will cover again in the future.
For now, let us imagine a wildfire, flood or drought on top of COVID-19. Are we anywhere close to being ready to deal with those kinds of natural events? Can we mentally and emotionally handle human displacements during this already tough time? We cannot. Remember, we are fragile and only a small part of an entire universe. Such natural events can create chaos and increase the severity of the existing crisis. The sad part is that it will still happen because we know climate change is real and it is happening regardless of COVID-19. We also know what the science says - Earth’s climate is warming. So, we should definitely not put the climate crisis on the side of our tables during the pandemic but should use our expertise to advance our efforts for climate change. To be absolutely frank, COVID-19 may have helped slow down the climate change process and bought us some time from Mother-nature. Majority of us are not transporting ourselves to school, work or for entertainment in our giant vehicles, trains and vessels. Most of us are working from home and the good thing is it is not ending our life. If anything, it is all helping the planet recover some of its natural systems that we, the humans, interrupted significantly. Yes, we are social beings and love to be out and about, but can we use this time to reflect on what really matters in our lives and what we really need for our basic sustenance? Maybe it can help us find a solution to climate change at our own individual levels? Also, during this time, no one is being stopped from being a social being as long as we can respect medical experts’ advice, and be creative and adaptive in living our lives. If, however, we can live our lives in the long-term, like we are during COVID-19, we may end up helping the planet from warming up and perhaps buy more time to fix our mistakes. We may just flatten the curve for climate change too. Will we act on it though or are we too addicted to our lifestyles, short-term economics and our own pockets? I really hope that we act on it.
We will eventually find a way to kill/deactivate the novel coronavirus through a vaccine and utilize it on a global scale. More important question though is should we go back to living our normal lives after that? In a recent webinar, I heard someone say that the climate change has no vaccine. So, can we use our time during COVID-19 crisis to reflect on our lifestyles and collectively invest our time, money and technology in sectors and ideas that really matter from the ongoing climate crisis perspective? We know that we will need to rebuild ourselves and our economies after the pandemic is over but how we do that will matter. If we go back to living our lives normally, we did not learn anything from the current crisis and we will be wandering like a deer in headlights when climate crisis hits us (it already is btw!). Clean energy sector of Canada recently wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister discussing how our economy can come out strongly after the COVID-19 crisis. It talks about maintaining and adding investments in climate change-related initiatives and policies. It addresses how periods of high unemployment and low-interest rates are precisely the right time to focus on new low-carbon investments and infrastructure, and not lock ourselves in high-carbon sectors. It talks about how we can decarbonize our economy using the experience we are having right now and applying it to the future. All great suggestions and I hope that we act on it. I also hope that we can act on our individual levels and make everyday decisions that make us more resilient and not dependent simply on reliefs that are being offered to us high and mighty. Perhaps, we need to revisit our priorities and understand what exactly we need to live our lives, where it comes from and if there is a way for us to do it ourselves. It is only then that we are truly resilient and self-sufficient.
As far as I am concerned, we need to act on it. Yes, we are the prime reasons for climate change, but we also have the will and smarts to reverse it!