The final installment of a blog series of 13 sharing art, articles, and abstract ideas that spark a contagious conversation.
This blog series was created as a way to archive the current pandemic and its connection to the climate crisis. We have grown together and learned about what defines a crisis, next was the common ground shared between COVID-19 and climate change. We’ve analyzed the cost-both human and financial – of these crises. We learned about community mutual aid networks and cultural perspectives. This blog series doesn’t stop here, and neither does climate change or the impact of COVID-19.
Here are some of the key take-aways from this 13 blog series:
-A crisis is any event that is going to lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, community, or whole society.
-The similarities between how the public has responded to COVID-19 and climate change are striking. “First, one denies the problem, then one denies its severity, and then one says it is too difficult or expensive to fix, and/or that the proposed solution threatens our freedom.” Sound familiar?
-Those who are the most impacted by environmental racism are also those who are hit the hardest from this pandemic.
-GDP, stock markets, and rates of unemployment will be impacted by both the coronavirus and climate change.
-When circumstances change for millions of people and every country all in a short period of time, the social ramifications should be considered just as critical as the economic ones. There is a major social cost to climate change and COVID-19.
-There is a strong link between the countries that have taken quick action against climate change and the countries that have controlled the spread of COVID-19.
As each of these crises continue to evolve and develop, more commonalities and connections can be made. With the information that we gain from COVID-19, we must take action to prepare ourselves better for climate change.
Written by Tatum Eames, Western Washington University Senior and Climate Justice Now Intern.
This blog, along with the manual and all that ClimateJusticeNow does, is vitally informative and uplifting. I hope that the blog will continue in some form, and increasingly encourage broad involvement in working creatively and collectively to address the systemic structures and misinformation that have led to such devastation of earth and of human communities, as well as our extended kin throughout the sacred environments that make up this beautiful and living planet.
Thank you!