One thing I love about the environment is that it is connected to so many things besides the obvious things like the trees and the animals. It is connected to the way our houses are built. It is connected to what we do for leisure whether that is sun tanning or doing snow angels in your front yard. This interconnection of many different actions and concepts, is similar to what is happening currently in the midst of many global crises. Currently the people of Earth are dealing with a pandemic, climate change, an economic meltdown, and intense race relations and political relations… just to name a few. When you think about these crises one by one, they can easily seem like separate problems. Problems that need separate solutions. But, look closer. These problems that we are dealing with today are all interconnected.
When I look at those 5 interconnected crises, I see a few commonalities. One being the abuse of power and the perception of people in power. For the two “scientific” crises, Coronavirus and climate change, I see people believing the wrong people in power. For COVID-19 we have a lot of non-scientists thinking that they know best about an ever changing viral infection compared to a PhD educated virus expert. For climate change, we have people believing someone saying that it is a giant hoax compared to the climate scientists that have dedicated their lives to effectively prove otherwise. For the current economic meltdown, racial injustices and intense political relations I see the abuse of power and the impact of those that do not have traditional power. According to an ABC News article, since the pandemic began over 45 million people have filed for unemployment. With a stat like that, one would think that nearly all Americans are struggling economically during this hard time, but it seems like this is not the case. That same article says that “the combined wealth of the 614 U.S. billionaires increased by $584 billion.” Let me repeat that…$584 billion. I do not know why this is the case. They could have taken advantage of the demand for employment by doing lower than normal hourly rates. They could have been given a large sum of money from the relief funds from the federal government. But one thing I do know, is that the fact that the powerful are getting more powerful is not okay. The people that have filed for unemployment are what make the country run. They are the ones that work to make the products you buy and work so that your grocery stores and “Mom and Pa” shops can be open. Without them we wouldn’t have anything, and these billionaires wouldn’t have a society to lean on for making their money. Coronavirus has caused a deeper inequality gap in the United States, and I think many people have become aware of this.
Coronavirus and climate change have a lot of things in common. They both impact people of color and people in the lower income strata more often. They also have a lot of scientific knowledge and experts that are being ignored every day, causing lives to be lost and greatly impacted daily. I remember in the beginning of the pandemic there was an intense drop in gas prices, which made me happy considering that this probably meant that the fossil fuel industry was struggling and could be pushed to transition to more environmentally friendly sources of energy such as wind and solar. Then everything else started to be greatly affected and the economy plummeted. When events like this happen, everyone starts to freak out and push for the growth in our global economy by any means possible. This is not a new phenomena. I think that one of the main reasons the climate crisis is so important today is because of this push for economic growth. But what many need to understand is this push for economic growth is what has set up this depression in the first place. It is the reason that those 614 billionaires have profited during this scary time. When we push for economic growth we are not looking at the other quality of life factors that can lead to a great economy. When we support people of color and give them the resources to get an education and comfortably live, the economy benefits. When we recognize that an industry is failing, ie. the fossil fuel industry, and we switch toward a more sustainable alternative, the
economy benefits. When we invest in communities, the economy benefits. One of the main reasons we have so many problems today is because we focus too much on benefiting the money makers and the big businesses compared to the people and the societies making those businesses and people so profitable.
A very broad solution I see when I look at those interconnected crises is investing in people and caring for people. Wearing a mask, not because you are in fear, but because you know that it could save someone’s life is how we care for people. Investing in communities instead of pushing for economic growth that only benefits the top 15% is how we loosen the system of systemic racism and classism that exist in this country. I am not saying that these are the only solutions to these problems, or that they are the easiest, but I do think that if we want a long lasting, sustainable economy and society we have to start investing in our people. We have to start caring about each other and the people around us.
Featured Image: Art by Fei Fei. Retrieved from Zora Medium
Written by Dominique Agnew, Senior at Cornell University and Climate Justice Now Intern