'The parallels between coronavirus and climate crisis are obvious' [View all]

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Environmental journalist Emily Atkin hopes public pressure over the pandemic will be a model for forcing governments to act

“I’m sorry,” says Emily Atkin, not sounding very apologetic, “but if you still refuse to see parallels between climate change and coronavirus then honestly you’re just stupid.”

A few weeks ago, the 30-year-old journalist wasn’t feeling so confrontational. Less was known about the global pandemic; the data and scientific research showing how the two global crises are linked was not as clear is it is today. But the connections quickly became obvious to Atkin, founder of the climate newsletter and podcast Heated. “Both are global crises which threaten millions of lives with clear science on how to solve them which governments have been too slow to act on; the same people who promote climate denial are refusing to accept the science of coronavirus, too.

“Coronavirus makes climate change worse, and vice versa,” Atkin says from isolation in her apartment. “We can’t do our research on climate because of it, we’ve had to cancel the UN climate summit for international negotiations.” Meanwhile, Donald Trump has loosened existing emission regulations during the pandemic, yet studies are already finding that death rates are “significantly higher” in areas with worse air pollution levels. The destruction of biodiversity makes pandemics more likely. And just like with the impact of global heating, , the coronavirus is hitting black, brown and poor people the worst.

The two things are so connected, Atkin repeats, that it’s stupid to say they’re not.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/04/parallels-climate-coronavirus-obvious-emily-atkin-pandemic



A boarded-up bar on the Upper East Side of New York City. Photograph: David Dee Delgado/Getty