Treat climate change like the global threat it is

Re: “Scientist sees warming causing woes for S.A.,” Metro, Sept. 6, and “Report sees financial havoc in climate change,” Business, Sept. 10

What if we treated greenhouse gases like a viral pandemic?

Our failure to adequately respond to the coronavirus pandemic does not instill confidence that we would successfully address the climate crisis.

These two recent news articles in the Express-news highlight how we face significant physical, emotional and financial impacts from our changing climate — yet we have a failure of leadership at the national level.

Picture this: Globally, millions of people subject themselves to a voluntary self-quarantine. Food shortages, travel restrictions, closed borders. The most vulnerable populations suffer unduly or die unnecessarily. This is not the result of the coronavirus or a flu pandemic but the climate crisis.

If our climate goes unchecked, our future under a worsening climate — just like under an unchecked viral outbreak — will be deadly and grim. We listen to epidemiologists when they explain the origin and strategies of a viral pandemic, but we ignore the planet’s “epidemiologists” — the climate scientists — when they lay out in clear terms what we must do to prevent the worst-case scenario. One with global consequences such as elevated temperatures, more severe droughts and storms, and rising sea levels that drown islands and cause havoc along coastlines. The planet’s epidemiologists tell us we must keep the rise in global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius.

If we fail to proactively address this issue, our future climate will have more heat waves and severe storms that cause people to remain in the safety of their homes — in essence, a self-quarantine. Those who are homeless or have too few means to pay utility bills for cooling will suffer. Globally, residents in low-lying areas, and those living in poverty, will bear the brunt of higher temperatures and sea levels.

Shifting climate zones, drought and excessive flooding all will lead to food shortages as crops we depend upon are no longer viable and lose nutritional value. Climate refugees will attempt to move away from drought-stricken regions when local agriculture fails.

The World Health Organization, or WHO, identifies climate change as a global health concern. On the WHO website the agency reports the following:

• Climate change affects the social and environmental determinants of health: clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter.

• Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress.

• The direct damage costs to health — excluding costs in health-determining sectors, such as agriculture, water and sanitation — is estimated to be $2 billion to $4 billion a year by 2030.

• Areas with weak health infrastructure — mostly in developing countries — would be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond.

• Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases through better transport, food and energy choices can result in improved health, particularly through reduced air pollution. When compared with our changing climate, the world responded to the coronavirus outbreak in what looks like an instantaneous response.

Is the problem a matter of rate? Is climate change too slow to cause alarm?

Much has been said about the slow government responses to the coronavirus in China, Italy and, yes, in the United States. Do our children and grandchildren have to point fingers at our lack of response to the climate? We can, and must, act.

This viral pandemic shows we can respond on a global scale, even if the response is costly, both at the social and economic levels. We will be far better off if we spread the cure for climate change over the next 10 to 20 years rather than finding ourselves against a wall of regret when 2040 rolls around.

Let your elected officials know you want positive action to address the climate crisis. Work at your local, state and federal levels to enact legislation to address the changing climate. Do what you can at a personal level. I encourage you to reach out to the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and join — which costs nothing — to become betterinformed and proactive.