Pandemic lessons for the climate crisis

WE ARE in the midst of a viral pandemic. However, we cannot forget that the climate crisis looms large.

As we know, the cost of responding to a preventable catastrophe is huge compared to the cost of avoiding catastrophe. The recent $2.2 trillion coronavirus bailout is already directly costing $6,646 for each of the 331 million people in the U.S. And this is just the beginning. Had we had the foresight and the will to prevent, or at least slow, the spread of the virus in the first place, the cost, both economically and socially, would have been orders of magnitude smaller.

But even as we battle the coronavirus pandemic, the climate crisis becomes less manageable as each month goes by. We are advised by the Fourth National Climate Assessment, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and many other respected scientific organizations to mitigate, rather than simply to try to adapt to, climate change.

We must do everything within our powers, as quickly as possible, to limit carbon emissions that are the primary cause of climate change. In this light, the U.S. administration’s recent plan to roll back fuel efficiency standards is ill-conceived and short-sighted.

With climate change, there will be very little resilience at the time scale of the human lifetime.

With the climate crisis, we still have the means to avoid the worst, if we can muster the will to do the right thing. We must transition away from fossil fuel consumption as swiftly as possible.

WALTER GERSTLE Albuquerque BENTON HOWELL Bernalillo