I think it's very intriguing how governments, democratic and not, are responding to the (COVID-19) pandemic compared to how they have been responding to climate change. Both (COVID-19) and climate change have the potential to destroy peoples lives, so why is climate change not being responded to in the same way that (COVID-19) is? I personally believe that governments regardless of their status as being democracies or not are taking climate change as seriously as void-19 has the potential to harm any person (ie even the rich) while climate change is shown to be harming poorer people primarily (ie effects of climate change right now are being felt strongly by small poorer Pacific island nation).
(COVID-19) and climate change both have detrimental effects but democracies like the United States and non-democracies like China are only putting strong precautions in place for (COVID-19). This makes me consider whether democracies and non-democracies despite their differences, still both prioritise issues which have the potential to impact rich people, over issues that impact the whole of society but are felt the most by poorer people. Perhaps all societies are fundamentally in favour of the rich, regardless if they are dictatorships, democracies or somewhere in between.
Interesting points, Hannah. There is also the idea that COVID19 is a directly, individually felt thing - you get sick and can die of an identifiable agent; climate change's effects are longer-term, difficult to sense exactly, and so on. This could have different impacts in any regime.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree Hannah. It is frustrating that unless something directly affects those within power, it is left up to someone else to fix. The inevitable disaster that will arise from climate change will come as a 'shock', when in fact, there have been years of warning from scientists and educated lobbyists that something needs to be done NOW. Only when the actual disaster strikes, and people begin to be affected who in the governing sectors of society, will there be a last dash attempt at combatting climate change. And by then it will be too late.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with everything that you've said although I think it's interesting to look at the difference in the way that media has reacted to COVID-19 and the way media has reacted both historically and currently to the climate change crisis. The effects of COVID-19 are hard to deny whereas understanding the long term effects of climate requires education and discussion, something I think mainstream media discourse around climate change has actively avoided, preferring an overly political or divisive angle.
ReplyDelete