“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”

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 LeeWood 06 Apr 2020

In the style of Monbiot - the best and the worst which could eventuate from our muddled pandemic

Ecological stabilization. Coronavirus has already been more effective in slowing down climate breakdown and ecological collapse than all the world’s policy initiatives combined. In February, Chinese CO2 emissions were down by over 25%. One scientist calculated that twenty times as many Chinese lives have been saved by reduced air pollution than lost directly to coronavirus. 

https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-04-03/coronavirus-spells-the-end-of...

Post edited at 08:22
 freeflyer 06 Apr 2020
In reply to LeeWood:

Godwin's law in post one - good work!

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 mondite 06 Apr 2020
In reply to freeflyer:

well aside from the fact no mention of a certain person or party.

OP LeeWood 06 Apr 2020
In reply to freeflyer:

> Godwin's law in post one - good work!

but that applies to the *discussion* not the link ! 

 freeflyer 06 Apr 2020
In reply to LeeWood:

> that applies to the *discussion* not the link !

A fine point but a fair one I guess

On topic, I've been thinking for a while that the pandemic might make it easier to explain the dynamics of climate change to the general population, and politicians, but I hadn't anticipated that there would be an immediate and direct effect!

Good news, but while I feel I have a reasonable understanding of the pandemic situation and am looking forward to getting some better testing data, I don't really have any clue on the economics of it, and that is really worrying me, to the extent that I find myself agreeing with the more gung-ho posters who suggest we should do more intelligent social distancing and give more priority to keeping the UK working.

I don't know what the answer is!

 Richard Horn 06 Apr 2020
In reply to LeeWood:

>  One scientist calculated that twenty times as many Chinese lives have been saved by reduced air pollution than lost directly to coronavirus. 

Are we talking the 3000 odd figure released by the Chinese government or the real figure?

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OP LeeWood 06 Apr 2020
In reply to LeeWood:

The pandemic has made it evident that we can react to crises - and how fast. The motivation has always been sparing un-necessary deaths - which seems v reasonable. But the flip side of this evidence has been all those un-necessary deaths we were NOT willing to act for - because it wasn't *us*, or it wasn't close enough to home or maybe even close enough to our epoch.

Examples:

Climate problems (current deaths attributed to air quality, and risk long term)

Asylum seekers drowning in the Med

Civilian deaths in Iraq/afghanistan

Child slaves mining for our smartphones

And many more. I'm sure I was not alone to ask - just *what* could ever turn the tables on society as we know it - and right all ills in one go ? If it's not this virus now - tell me the blueprint for another such gamechanger - viral or other - which takes such control and authority across countries and continents !

 wbo2 06 Apr 2020
In reply to Richard Horn: you might get a surprise when the UK release their real figures... it doesn't consistently count anything outside hospitals....

 krikoman 06 Apr 2020
In reply to freeflyer:

> Godwin's law in post one - good work!


Saves someone needing to point it out later on

 Richard Horn 06 Apr 2020
In reply to wbo2:

Agreed - the French figure jumped by ~2000 a couple of days ago when they added on what was happening outside hospitals. I understood the British government were going to do this a few days ago but maybe they bottled it when the daily toll hit 500 in hospitals alone...


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