The pandemic has had devasting effects, but at least it should offer the youth a lesson of environmental awareness. Like the pandemic, climate change is a “black swan”: a large, unexpected event with major consequences. These types of events have either a low probability of occurring or develop so slowly that there is never a feeling of imminent danger – until it is too late.
Our willful blindness to the current pandemic seems even childish in retrospect. There had been several warnings that our healthcare systems were not prepared for a pandemic and that more resources were needed. When there was an outbreak in China, we did not react. Once the virus was in Italy, we in Spain thought we were safe despite how close (geographically and culturally) we were from danger. When all of Europe suffered from COVID-19, the United States was slow and hesitant in offering solid responses, which has resulted in the death of more than half a million Americans. Even amidst the pandemic, we thought quarantining for a couple of weeks would be enough, and later turned our faith into a vaccine that some thought would only take some months. We have been in a continuous state of denial, believing our societal system was above nature.
We live the same willful blindness with our environmental crisis. Ignoring the problem and being overconfident in finding an easy solution in the future, is a mistake that will have devastating consequences. Young generations are uniquely positioned to solve this: we have more access to information than ever before, and we are to inherit this world. It is difficult to challenge the status quo. But the shock from COVID-19 should remind us that we coexist with nature and we must be prepared for it. With COVID, eventually, we had to make sacrifices. If we had been prepared beforehand, likely fewer sacrifices would have been needed. We must think in the long-term and tackle the environmental crisis now. Our pain from this pandemic can teach us the way to a sustainable future.