Pandemic and the Planetary Emergency: Why do we treat the crises so differently?
Abstract
As the daily urgency of the Covid-19 pandemic begins to fade, this report pauses to reflect on the lessons learned from the global response to the pandemic and asks why, despite the looming threat, has our collective response to the climate crisis looked so different? Having witnessed how the conventional rules and systems perspectives that govern global decision-making, socio-economic policy and public mobilization can be re-written in the space of a few short months, this report aims to better understand what factors can shape the effective mobilization of resources and will-power to mitigate the worst outcomes of the climate crisis. Understanding that the response to the Covid-19 pandemic has increased societal awareness of the possibility to respond effectively to global crises, we highlight the reasons why this same expectation should, and must, apply to the climate crisis.