TDL Brief: COVID and the Climate
As the global climate situation becomes increasingly urgent, the movement against climate change has gained more and more traction. Despite the protests, the conferences, and the new policies, many are frustrated by the slow progress that is being made.
In early 2020, the world was struck by a pandemic that brought daily life to a screeching halt. Among all the tragedy and the trauma brought on by COVID-19, many people found themselves searching for a silver lining.
It is probably safe to say that we can all agree that the coronavirus pandemic has impacted nearly every facet of our lives. It has left nothing untouched – including the environment. The silver lining that so many were looking for was the realization that one of the many consequences of the pandemic might just be a reversal of some of the effects of climate change. The hope was that, with far fewer people travelling and less factories up and running, we could prove that the damage we caused could be undone. Then, that evidence could be used to push for lasting change. Perhaps it would not be so bad if life after the pandemic did not look exactly as it did before.
Although this bright spot in the pandemic certainly has value, there are many who look at it from a less optimistic perspective. They raise questions like “is the change we are seeing significant” and, if so, “is there any feasible way to make it last?”. These questions are too big to have just one easy answer; even experts are in disagreement about them. In spite of the uncertainty, perhaps this could still be used as a way to bring about change in a post-COVID world.
References
- Masone, P. (2020). Why did we mobilise for COVID-19 and not climate change?. London School of Economics and Political Science. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/psychologylse/2020/05/17/why-did-we-mobilise-for-covid-19-and-not-climate-change/
- Green recovery’ from COVID-19 can slow climate change: UN environment report. UN News. https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/12/1079602
- Climate and COVID-19: Converging crises. The Lancet. 397(10269). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32579-4
- McGrath, M. (2020). UN report: Covid crisis does little to slow climate change. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54074733
About the Authors
Dan Pilat
Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.
Dr. Sekoul Krastev
Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.
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