Editor's note: Nina-Bytes is a weekday blogging series that features short analysis and commentary on articles from around the web.
Lancet Report Warns Planetary Crisis Will Spur More Infectious Diseases, Climate Refugees
One of the more important things living through the early stages of climate catastrophe has taught me, is that most people have no real concept of what we mean when we say this is a global crisis. Oh sure, folks realize that some animals might die, and coastal property might sink below the sea, but most people seem pretty certain that somehow, they'll survive a global collapse of our biosphere just fine. As a recent report published in the Lancet (and timed to precede the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow) details however; climate crisis is already killing people far away from the "frontiers" of global warming, and it's going to kill a lot more.
As Jessica Corbett writing in Common Dreams details in this story, the report is a collaborative effort by dozens of recognized academics and UN experts, and the findings are grim. From a rise in infectious disease spread, to extreme heat, and fatal air pollution, the Lancet report makes it clear that on our current trajectory, climate change "will become the defining narrative of human health." Literally millions upon millions of lives are at stake here, and that's from knock on health effects of climate crisis alone; doctors are calling it a "code red" health situation.
Pointing to the nationalist failures in addressing the coronavirus crisis, the report's authors also note that "tackling climate change requires all countries to deliver an urgent and coordinated response." As lead author Maria Romanello says "it's time to realize that no one is safe from the effects of climate change." In a sane world, this would be understood as a rational call for socialism in the face of our collective impending global heat death. Here however, it's clearly a reference to the Glasgow conference.
In fairness the report isn't all doom and gloom; even at this late an hour, there is still time to pull our society back from the brink. The authors note that with the current global incentive to invest in a coronavirus recovery, it is possible to spend that money on curbing carbon emissions in the name of global health. Once again, it's a great idea, for a world where guys like Joe Manchin don't need a new boat. Sadly, we're not living in that sane kind of world, so I guess we're all doomed.
nina illingworth
Anarcho-syndicalist writer, critic, and analyst.
You can find my work at NIDC, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog
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“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”
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