“COVID-19 is the most urgent threat facing humanity today, but we cannot forget that climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity over the long term,” Patricia Espinosa, secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, said in announcing the postponement of the U.N. Climate Conference.
This meeting was time for nations to update their climate pledges with ambitious plans to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide.
The pandemic has delayed climate action and laid bare some of the problems of our global systems. It threatens to exacerbate the already existing inequities that we've allowed to plague our communities around the world.
Many of these inequities have come from an already damaged climate. Climate migrants may not survive this pandemic.
We have an opportunity to change how we see each other; an unprecedented opportunity to recognize the shared nature of life on this planet and take action for the common good.
Our nation will move past this health and economic crisis, hopefully with hard lessons learned. Then, Congress should turn its attention to our climate crisis by enacting solutions like the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (HR 763) that transitions us to a clean energy economy.
What we accomplish now matters for generations to come.
For now I will check on my neighbor, thank my representatives, and keep others safe by staying home.
Karen Jackson, Salt Lake City
