At Climate Resolve, we set out every single day to combat the catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis. However, it’s not lost on us that humanity is facing a more immediate, all-consuming disaster: the COVID-19 pandemic.
After a spring and summer of renewed hope, recent weeks have seen the pandemic take a turn for the worse. We are currently experiencing record-breaking infections, more than tripling the record seven-day average set over a year ago in January 2021.
Hospitals around the country are at or over capacity. Healthcare workers are exhausted and overwhelmed. Children are being hospitalized at a record rate. Teachers are getting sick and schools are unsure of how to operate.
Dealing with systemic issues, these struggles can get lost in the noise, so we want to take a moment to acknowledge them. While we’re physically distanced, we still strive to be here for each other.
At this point, after 63.6+ million cases and 844,000 deaths in the United States as of January 12, we’ve all been touched by the pandemic. Some more than others. Like the climate crisis, communities of color and low-income people have been hit the hardest. But nobody is immune.
The climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic are analogous and even amplify each other in many ways. Yes, they’re both global issues. Yes, they’re both serious emergencies with tragic consequences. Yes, vulnerable communities suffer the most by inaction.
But the most crucial parallel between the climate crisis and the pandemic is that neither can be fought alone. Inasmuch as day-to-day small efforts are helpful—driving less, planting trees, or wearing masks, quarantining, and testing—individual actions alone are insufficient to beat back the problem. Big, bold, transformative social actions are needed—employing massive resources from government agencies.
Without a serious collective effort to address the pandemic, we’ll continue to see major disruptions to daily life and needless injury and death. On the climate front, we need bold action to address failing infrastructure, extreme weather events, and displacement. And to arrive at the place where we prioritize the health, safety, and living conditions of people above all else: we’ll need compassion.
At Climate Resolve, we have been directly impacted by COVID. Your household may also be going through trying times. These are no small matters, and we are in this together.
When we stick together, work together, and care for one another, we’ll get through this.
Yours in solidarity,
Climate Resolve Staff
