As with the pandemic, responses to climate change have often emphasized individual actiontraveling less, eating more sustainably, switching to more efficient energy sources. But both crises require the kind of large-scale structural interventions produced by national and international policies, like designing more sustainable infrastructure and transportation and alternate work arrangements, as well as creating emergency responses and strengthening social safety nets for the most vulnerable. Thats not to mention governments regulatory role. We need stronger regulations, Otto said.

With national governments and the European Union rolling out subsidy programs for industries hit hard by the virus, Otto proposes attaching sustainable strings to this aid. For instance, the aviation industry is strongly dependent on fossil fuels, she said. Why not ask them for plans [on] how to decrease the emissions within, like, 50 percent within the next 10 years and maybe become carbon neutral by 2050 or so? I think this could be used as an incentive to encourage companies to make plans [for] how they want to achieve carbon neutrality. Otto argues against re-creating the systems countries had before the pandemic. If we dont build a more resilient system right now, we will, in a way, lose this opportunity, she said. In addition, investments in green initiatives, like renewable energy, could boost the economy.

The coronavirus pandemic has reshaped the way we live, work, and interact in a matter of weeks. It has also shown that governments are ableand in many cases are expectedto take swift, significant action on crises. Under these extraordinary circumstances, there can be quite decisive action from governance and policy that changes the way were all living day to day, Lenton said. It is possible to change large-scale patterns of human behavior, pretty quickly.

The question is whether governments, and voters, can appreciate the true urgency of the task. In reality, the climate crisis cannot be solved incrementally, Lenton said, because its taken too long to spur action: Many warming-related changes are already underway. Global greenhouse gas emissions must be dramatically reduced and eventually eliminated. If were going to avoid the worst of bad climate tipping points, then were going to need to find some positive tipping points in society and ourselves to transform the way we livein a generationto a more sustainable but also perhaps a more flourishing kind of future, Lenton said.

View post:
The Climate Crisis Will Be Just as Shockingly Abrupt - The New Republic