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Will We Get Lucky on the Climate Crisis?
"It was luck that prevented nuclear war. We came that close to nuclear war at the end. Rational individuals: Kennedy was rational; Khrushchev was rational; Castro was rational. Rational individuals came that close to total destruction of their societies." - Former US Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in the 2003 documentary, The Fog of War, reflecting on the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Before Covid-19 became a global pandemic in early 2020, it seemed that the most pressing international policy issue was climate change. Climate protests were regularly in the headlines across the developed world. Activist Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teenager, was regularly on front pages. What about now? Now, surviving Covid-19 is the biggest challenge on the immediate agenda of world governments.
But perhaps not much has changed. Perhaps we mistook media attention for political, corporate and popular interest. Just because the media was consumed with climate protest coverage just prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, does not mean that the world's leading governments and corporations were moving heaven and earth to actually respond to the problem.
It is admittedly difficult for humans beings to collectively respond to an existential crisis, as evidenced by the continued threat of nuclear weapons to humanity. Such weapons still exist in large numbers today, many on permanent alert, aimed at planned targets, to be launched at a moment's notice upon the decision of just a handful of the world's Presidents and Prime Ministers.
Today, responding to the climate crisis requires that those very same Presidents and Prime Ministers, and the people and corporations whose interests and livelihoods they defend, agree to immediately and drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is possible in part through rapid investment in, and proliferation of, existing clean energy technology and infrastructure. Leaders, industry, and citizens, must agree to do this no matter the short to medium term economic fallout. In this episode, Caribbean experts discuss the severity of the climate crisis and the pace of the global response.
The host is Kieron Murdoch. The guests are:
This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on September 5th, 2021. Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online.
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By The Big Issues Production Team"It was luck that prevented nuclear war. We came that close to nuclear war at the end. Rational individuals: Kennedy was rational; Khrushchev was rational; Castro was rational. Rational individuals came that close to total destruction of their societies." - Former US Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in the 2003 documentary, The Fog of War, reflecting on the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Before Covid-19 became a global pandemic in early 2020, it seemed that the most pressing international policy issue was climate change. Climate protests were regularly in the headlines across the developed world. Activist Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teenager, was regularly on front pages. What about now? Now, surviving Covid-19 is the biggest challenge on the immediate agenda of world governments.
But perhaps not much has changed. Perhaps we mistook media attention for political, corporate and popular interest. Just because the media was consumed with climate protest coverage just prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, does not mean that the world's leading governments and corporations were moving heaven and earth to actually respond to the problem.
It is admittedly difficult for humans beings to collectively respond to an existential crisis, as evidenced by the continued threat of nuclear weapons to humanity. Such weapons still exist in large numbers today, many on permanent alert, aimed at planned targets, to be launched at a moment's notice upon the decision of just a handful of the world's Presidents and Prime Ministers.
Today, responding to the climate crisis requires that those very same Presidents and Prime Ministers, and the people and corporations whose interests and livelihoods they defend, agree to immediately and drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is possible in part through rapid investment in, and proliferation of, existing clean energy technology and infrastructure. Leaders, industry, and citizens, must agree to do this no matter the short to medium term economic fallout. In this episode, Caribbean experts discuss the severity of the climate crisis and the pace of the global response.
The host is Kieron Murdoch. The guests are:
This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on September 5th, 2021. Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online.