Covid-19: Foreshadows the Price That Will Be Paid for Ignoring Science

Chris Boese@chrisboese

One might consider this the first serious “shot across the bow” that is the result of ignoring the scientists who have been shouting from the rooftops about the fragile nature of our planet.

I say “serious” not to diminish the hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires that take a temporary hold on our consciousness in the 24 hour media loop that we call the “news of the day.” That’s just my point — it is a loop-de-loop of events that impacts pockets of the nation — of the world.

New York’s Hurricane Sandy; Louisiana’s Katrina; Tennessee’s tornado; California’s wildfires — they interrupt our lives (unless we are in their path), and, thankfully, the country tries to rebuild, replenish, reassert our will over Mother Nature. And then the news marches on to the next localized calamity.

Not so with Covid-19.

Disregarding the latest misinformation from President Trump, even Fox News has put 2 and 2 together and realized, “Houston, we have a problem.” This time it touches every one of the 50 states. This time what the scientists and medical experts say has our attention (and it is not limited to 24 hours). This time (cue the dramatic pitch of the orchestra) it really matters.

Yes, the climate is warming because MAN IS MAKING IT SO.

The truth is far from “inconvenient” — it’s toxic. And it will kill whole swaths of the population in every country. According to The New York Times’ David Wallace Wells, in his article “Time to Panic,” Wells quotes a familiar voice of Earth’s stewardship, “At the opening of a major United Nations conference two months later, David Attenborough, the mellifluous voice of the BBC’s Planet Earth” and now an environmental conscience for the English-speaking world, put it even more bleakly: ‘If we don’t take action,’ he said, ‘the collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.’”

Ours is to do three things at once: recognize that those in positions of power are not paying attention to the dire predictions of scientists, remove them from authority, and simultaneously try to minimize the human toll.

What can someone take from this worldwide epidemic? Let’s start with the basics: Global Warming is REAL. It’s not a hoax cooked up by the Chinese, who are the current villains the President blames. The Polar Ice is melting — faster than we expected. Yes, it will cause flooding, and we will lose cities like Miami. Yes, the climate is warming because MAN IS MAKING IT SO. (The good news is this nation can start to deal with it by agreeing to continue with the Paris Accords.)

Perhaps the most important thing to be done by our citizens is to elect leaders to the House, Senate, and the Oval Office who believe in science, regardless of their political party.

Who do not pander to the fossil fuel industry.

Who do not believe windmills cause cancer.

Who understand that America cannot “go it alone” in this decade that will surely be the tipping point of environmental survival.

Americans should not elect leaders who tell us falsehoods that are self-promoting. Americans should ignore the short sighted delusions of hucksters posing as “journalists” (who do not even have a college degree!); those who demand the attention of people too tired, too busy, too ignorant (myself, included) about science and the dangers of our energy production. These blowhards who lead us astray with the notion that government is the enemy, yet at the same time they profess undying devotion to that same government (as long at government keeps its hands off their wallet).

Simply put, if we do not change the trajectory of this planet’s occupants who pollute the atmosphere, then the pandemic that has doubled over citizens with a gut punch that has so many gasping for breath, will be to some, just a glitch, a minor hiccup in the machinery of global consumption.

If America’s citizens are not frightened enough to finally listen to scientists, doctors and nurses who understand the real “curve” the planet is facing, then we will be destined to perish. That’s the Inconvenient Truth that is being ignored.