CarbonPositive: Climate and the Coronavirus

摘要

Where We Are Now George Price, a physician at the turn of the last century, famously called the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic a "destroyer and teacher." So, what about the COVID-19 pandemic? COVID-19 is teaching us that planning, preparation, and preventive action are crucial, and that complacency and indifference are dangerous and foolhardy. A delayed response to a pandemic in days and weeks, and to climate change in months and years, have amplifying feedbacks leading to impacts that can spiral out of control. The U.S. intelligence community warned us in consecutive Worldwide Threat Assessments that such a pandemic was likely, that it was just a question of time before "massive rates of death and disability severely affect the world economy, strain international resources, and increase calls on the United States for support."