/Climate Crisis

by Marcio Rodrigues 01.06.2022

Lessons from the pandemic for the Climate Crisis

The Covid-19 pandemic forced the world to change citizens' habits and production methods for over two years. Additionally, it opened the world's eyes to the real consequences of a catastrophe. In the context of the climate crisis, there are some lessons and areas of focus that, if not addressed, could be disastrous.

Intensive industrial livestock farming, besides promoting environmental degradation, has the potential to create other health disasters. The difficulty in reaching consensus among countries hinders effective measures to combat global problems. Major nations undermine the political power of multilateral organizations and promote a "war of all against all." In the chaos, however, we realize that small changes in habits can have incredible results.

Intensive industrial livestock Even before the Covid-19 pandemic that shook the world, the scientific community was already aware of the risks of intensive industrial livestock farming. This production model carries two major risks. Firstly, the proliferation of new zoonotic viruses (transmission between humans and animals), and secondly, the development of multi-resistant bacteria.

The chaos in global public health, therefore, brought to the forefront the real consequences of pathogen spread. If before the problem had only been recognized locally with outbreaks of H5N1 or H1N1, now the entire world understands the problems of persisting in a production model that is a ticking time bomb in terms of public health.

Intensive livestock farming, especially of pigs, places hundreds of animals in small spaces and precarious sanitary conditions. Together and with immunosuppressed organisms, an infection in one animal can infect all, replicate at a brutal speed, mutate, and then acquire the ability to infect humans or other animals.

At the same time, to ensure that the livestock stays alive until the slaughter date, colossal amounts of antibiotics are administered. Globally, 73% of antibiotics sold in the world are used in livestock, around 131,000 tons.

This practice promotes the creation of multi-resistant bacteria that can cause fatal infections in humans. It is estimated that every year, 700,000 people die as a result of these bacteria, and by 2050, the number is expected to rise to 10 million, a figure higher than deaths from diabetes or cancer.

Inequality between countries

After Covid-19 spread from the Asian continent and swept through the West, it became clear within weeks that without effective measures to combat its spread, the losses would be immeasurable. However, numerous political impasses undermined the efficiency of the global pandemic response.

Among these impasses, we can highlight issues related to border closures, access to information, acquisition of basic materials for patient care, and even the swift regulation of new vaccine tests and vaccine supply.

Scientists argued that joint immunization of countries was necessary, as there was a risk of virus mutation that could jeopardize everything. Nonetheless, the difficulty in reaching a consensus and attending to peripheral countries did not reach an ideal point.

Today's fight against greenhouse gas emissions faces the same problem. Although it is a consensus in the scientific community that effective measures need to be taken today, or the future will be catastrophic, the construction of international consensus is moving at a slow pace.

Change in citizens' lifestyle

With the difficulties brought about by the pandemic, society needed to adapt. As a result, almost all major economies in the world implemented sanitary measures, with social distancing being the main one. Work and production methods were altered, and as a consequence, the emission of polluting gases decreased considerably.

According to a report from the World Meteorological Organization of the United Nations (UN), in 2020, during the most intense period of global social isolation, pollutant emissions decreased by 17% compared to the 2019 average worldwide. Only between January and April, there was a drop of 1 billion tons of CO2 released into the atmosphere.

Analyzing only Brazil, there was a 25.2% decrease between March 20, 2020, and April 3 of the same year, considered the highest point of the quarantine in the country.

A large part of this reduction was due to changes in citizens' habits, especially when it comes to transportation (responsible for 43% of the emission reduction). With a portion of the population working from home, there was no constant need for commuting.

The industry and the energy sector together were also responsible for 43% of the emission reduction. Meanwhile, aviation accounted for 10% of the drop.

However, today, emissions have already started to rise again and have returned to pre-pandemic levels. The lesson to be learned, however, is that changes in production methods and individual habits have the real power to mitigate global warming.

This conclusion was also highlighted by the academic community in the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which emphasized individual actions in combating greenhouse gases.

Weakening of global consensus institutions

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of global consensus organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO). However, some important countries in the international scenario challenged the recommendations of such multilateral bodies and put the world at risk.

States like China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Brazil chose to provide unilateral responses to the pandemic, which led to disastrous consequences, especially in the two American countries. Trump and Xi Jinping did not take on leadership roles, with the former adopting a denialist stance and the latter failing in transparency regarding data and information about the disease.

In this context, Celso Lafer, former Chancellor of Brazil, says that we are living in a moment of "war of all against all," highlighting the rise of unilateral movements.

According to Alexander Wendt, one of the main constructivist researchers in the field of International Relations, global consensus organizations cannot function without the support of nation-states through actions and coordination.

The UN also suffers from a lack of international legitimacy. Amitav Acharya, professor of international relations at American University in Washington, argues that the organization represents both solidarity and injustice towards peripheral countries, which undermines the credibility of a central body in building consensus against greenhouse gas emissions.

Conclusão

Even though the effects of global warming are already present in daily life, with the most dramatic manifestations being environmental disasters that cause dozens of victims, society, for the most part, still does not grasp the seriousness of the situation and the need for rapid changes. In this sense, Covid-19 can serve as a warning of the damages that nature can bring to both life and the economy.

Sources:

Emissão de poluentes no ar diminuiu 7% por causa de pandemia | CNN Brasil

Emissão de gases poluentes cai em 2020: Entenda os motivos – Coontrol Blog Pandemia escancara necessidade de diminuição na emissão de poluentes (ecodebate.com.br) The Challenge Of Building Consensus Beyond The Scientific Community | United Nations Climate Consensus across Continents: Opinions in China, Sweden, and the United States Increasingly Align (resources.org) News & Media :: Power For All Pandemia reforça importância dos cuidados sanitários na produção animal – Portal Embrapa “Quanto maior o consumo de carne, maior o risco de novas pandemias” – Revista Galileu | Sociedade (globo.com) A pecuária industrial intensiva e a ameaça à nossa saúde | World Animal Protection Hidden Carbon Subsidies Will Destroy Us by Jayati Ghosh & Debamanyu Das – Project Syndicate (project-syndicate.org)

About Bion Global: Bion Global is a company dedicated to developing technological tools that foster climate action among individuals and contribute to decarbonization through an innovative reward system. According to the latest report on mitigating the environmental crisis by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2022, the world has the potential to cut up to 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions by incentivizing healthier and more sustainable lifestyles among the population. Bion Global aims to utilize technology to encourage and empower people to take actions that positively impact the environment and contribute to reducing carbon emissions.