TIME: «How the pandemic can lead us to a better green world» [EN]
The Pandemic Remade Every Corner of Society, by Justin worland «Climate is Everything»
[EN] Climate change -» On her third day as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Marcia Fudge phoned the White House.
She had taken over an agency with a role to play addressing a range of crises as the lack of affordable housing in U.S. cities has left hundreds of thousands homeless and millions more in financial straits.
She connected with Joe Biden’s climate team. Fudge and Gina McCarthy, Biden’s national climate adviser, talked about addressing climate change and the affordable-housing shortage at the same time.»-
For decades, the idea that climate change touches everything has grown behind the scenes.
Leaders from small island countries have pleaded with the rest of the world to notice how climate change has begun to uproot their lives, in areas from health care to schooling.
Social scientists have crunched the data, illuminating how climate change will ripple across society, contributing to a surge in migration, reduced productivity and a spike in crime.
And advocates and thinkers have proposed everything from a conscious move to economic degrowth to eco-capitalism to make climate the government’s driving force.
Three weeks later, the Administration announced plans to provide for more than 1 million resilient and energy-efficient housing units. “People are actually, from every agency, knocking on our doors,” says McCarthy, “wondering how they can be part of what is essentially a hopeful future.”
The approach “affords us the opportunity to be more than greenhouse-gas accountants,” says Ali Zaidi, McCarthy’s deputy.
“We can tackle the breadth of the climate challenge and the opportunity if we map the intersections with housing policy, and the intersection with racial justice, and the intersection with public health.”
VIDEO «TIME» CLIMATE IS EVERYTHING
Video TIME
For decades, the idea that climate change touches everything has grown behind the scenes. Leaders from small island countries have pleaded with the rest of the world to notice how climate change has begun to uproot their lives, in areas from health care to schooling.
Social scientists have crunched the data, illuminating how climate change will ripple across society, contributing to a surge in migration, reduced productivity and a spike in crime.
And advocates and thinkers have proposed everything from a conscious move to economic degrowth to eco-capitalism to make climate the government’s driving force.
Eco-capitalism to make climate the government’s driving force
Now, spurred by alarming science, growing public fury and a deadly pandemic, government officials, corporate bosses and civil-society leaders are finally waking up to a simple idea whose time has come: climate is everything.
Finally waking up to a simple idea whose time has come: climate is everything
It’s out of this recognition that the E.U. has allocated hundreds of billions of euros to put climate at the center of its economic plans, seemingly unrelated activist groups have embraced environmental goals, and investors have flooded firms advancing the energy transition with trillions of dollars.
“The world is crossing the long-awaited political tipping point on climate right now,” says Al Gore, a former U.S. Vice President who won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his climate activism. “We are seeing the beginning of a new era.”
We are seeing the beginning of a new era
New economy of the 21st century
(…) Five years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has given the E.U.
the perfect opportunity to accelerate the remaking of its economic agenda with climate at its core—what Sefcovic calls the “new economy of the 21st century.”
The European Commission framed its pandemic-relief program around a so-called Green Deal that aims to invest hundreds of billions of euros in everything from zero-emission trains to growing renewable-energy capacity.
But its true aims are more ambitious than any line item. “If you want to succeed, you have to successfully transform all sectors,” says Jeppe Kofod, Denmark’s Foreign Minister.
“I call it a climate union.” A successful centering of climate would place the E.U. at the center of the global economy, setting standards for the world.
If you want to succeed, you have to successfully transform all sectors
(…) Back in D.C., McCarthy and Zaidi tread carefully when asked about the costs of climate change, which both note are piling up, before shifting the conversation to a more positive vision.
“That’s why so many people are getting interested in the issue of climate change,” says McCarthy.
“Because it’s now being presented as an opportunity. It’s now being presented as a hopeful message.”
Two things can be true at once, and the future brought about by climatization may very well include elements of both visions: crushing economic effects as well as opportunities for rejuvenation.
Indeed, as the effects of climate change become more apparent and the response becomes more urgent, it’s almost inevitable.
But both must be considered; only by recognizing how climate will seep into everything can we tilt the scale toward something a little better.
Fuente completa y copyright de textos: https://time.com/5953374/climate-is-everything/
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