{"id":5457,"date":"2020-03-31T18:18:34","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T18:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/?p=5457"},"modified":"2020-03-31T18:18:34","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T18:18:34","slug":"lessons-from-the-end-of-the-world-climate-change-and-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/2020\/03\/31\/lessons-from-the-end-of-the-world-climate-change-and-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from the end of the world: climate change and COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

Studying\u00a0<\/span>Environmental Technology<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>has been,\u00a0<\/span>more often than not<\/span>, a\u00a0<\/span>bleak<\/span>\u00a0undertaking. My classmates and I\u00a0<\/span>have made a whole lot of<\/span>\u00a0joke<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0a<\/span>bout each lecture being a<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>new<\/span>\u00a0existential crisis.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>It feels like c<\/span>limate change is<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>a\u00a0<\/span>train wreck<\/span>\u00a0in slow motion<\/span>:\u00a0<\/span>a present danger<\/span>\u00a0with\u00a0<\/span>the potential for utter catastrophe and\u00a0<\/span>an<\/span>\u00a0increasing number of people frantically waving their hands a<\/span>bout<\/span>\u00a0trying to warn others.\u00a0<\/span>Its most immediate effects are often\u00a0<\/span>played down or\u00a0<\/span>ignored<\/span>, not<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>helped by the fact that it can be hard to definitively say wh<\/span>ich\u00a0<\/span>events\u00a0<\/span>have<\/span><\/i>\u00a0been caused or exacerbated by climate change<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>It\u2019s far easier for those in positions of power to continue<\/span>\u00a0with<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cbusiness as usual\u201d,<\/span>\u00a0kick<\/span>ing<\/span>\u00a0respons<\/span>ibility\u00a0<\/span>down the line<\/span>\u00a0until\u00a0<\/span>the situation<\/span>\u00a0inevitably reach<\/span>es<\/span>\u00a0a point\u00a0<\/span>of no return<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>And indeed, that has for the most part been the case.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But<\/span>, of course,\u00a0<\/span>climate change feels like old news in the face of<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the current pandemic<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Another\u00a0<\/span>train wreck<\/span>, but a far swifter one<\/span>\u2014i<\/span>t<\/span>‘<\/span>s\u00a0<\/span>difficult<\/span>\u00a0to ignore the effects of a highly contagious virus<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>We\u2019ve all seen how g<\/span>overnments and institutions have been scrambling to\u00a0<\/span>respond<\/span>\u00a0with varying degrees of success.\u00a0<\/span>I’ve been thinking a lot<\/span>\u00a0(#<\/span>isolationmusings<\/span>)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>about\u00a0<\/span>how governments have prepared\u00a0<\/span>for\u00a0<\/span>and reacted to<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>COVID-19 versus<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>climate change<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>I<\/span>t\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0easily<\/span>\u00a0a subject for\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>\u00a0full<\/span>\u00a0research\u00a0<\/span>project<\/span>\u00a0so I\u2019m not going to get into it in a student blog post<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Needless to say, both<\/span>\u00a0issues are train wrecks<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>neither\u00a0<\/span>of which\u00a0<\/span>should be diminished by the other.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

St<\/span>ill<\/span>, in a time when apocalyptic comparisons are being made<\/span>\u00a0left and right<\/span>,\u00a0I<\/span>‘<\/span>ve found myself thinking that<\/span>\u00a0I had already\u00a0prepared myself for an apocalypse.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Over the past two terms,\u00a0<\/span>I have learned<\/span>\u00a0the many ways in which<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>unchecked\u00a0<\/span>climate change\u00a0<\/span>will impact<\/span>\u00a0the world as we know it<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>That type of<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>future doesn\u2019t seem\u00a0<\/span>so different from what we\u2019re experiencing now<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0although<\/span>\u00a0this\u00a0<\/span>particular apocalypse<\/span>\u00a0does<\/span>\u00a0involve more staying in<\/span>sid<\/span>e than I had been picturing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0studying climate change has also taught me about resilience<\/span>, which applies as much to people as it does to infrastructure<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I finished\u00a0<\/span>my course\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0lecture<\/span>\u00a0term<\/span>s with a determination to<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>not give in to the bleak rhetoric that often surrounds\u00a0<\/span>global issues<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0I want to\u00a0<\/span>believe in and strive for optimism and\u00a0<\/span>mutually beneficial<\/span>\u00a0solutions<\/span>\u00a0to grand problems<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>This goes for situations like COVID-19 as well as climate change.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of desperation and\u00a0panic going around right now<\/span>, and understandably so<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0But<\/span> there have also been <\/span>innumerable<\/span>\u00a0instances of people coming together to\u00a0<\/span>support<\/span>\u00a0each other and their communities, even\u00a0<\/span>though it\u00a0<\/span>mu<\/span>s<\/span>t be from a distance. We should all take heart from that. <\/span>These types of situations might be train wrecks in the making, but we still have time to avert the worst-case scenario if we leverage our individual actions into large-scale change. <\/span>No apocalypse is certain.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Studying\u00a0Environmental Technology\u00a0has been,\u00a0more often than not, a\u00a0bleak\u00a0undertaking. My classmates and I\u00a0have made a whole lot of\u00a0jokes\u00a0about each lecture being a\u00a0new\u00a0existential crisis.\u00a0It feels like climate change is\u00a0a\u00a0train wreck\u00a0in slow motion:\u00a0a present danger\u00a0with\u00a0the potential for utter catastrophe and\u00a0an\u00a0increasing number of people frantically waving their hands about\u00a0trying to warn others.\u00a0Its most immediate effects are often\u00a0played down or\u00a0ignored, not\u00a0helped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1414,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nLessons from the end of the world: climate change and COVID-19 - Student blogs - Imperial College London<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/2020\/03\/31\/lessons-from-the-end-of-the-world-climate-change-and-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lessons from the end of the world: climate change and COVID-19 - Student blogs - Imperial College London\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Studying\u00a0Environmental Technology\u00a0has been,\u00a0more often than not, a\u00a0bleak\u00a0undertaking. 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