Less COVID-19 Less Climate Change Concern

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Need a new car? Decision is based on the make, not climate change.

COVID-19 the virus is still skulking around somewhere, not as much as it did when it gatecrashed the party in 2020. According to health statistics, it is less now because except for Novak Djokovic the tennis star, we are fully vaccinated.

That is the good news. The downside is waning interest in climate change. We have lowered it to the bottom drawer or that old suitcase in the basement.

Climate change was active in our minds because we had a problem. There is something in the air, and it’s not music. It makes us sick so we wear masks. COVID-19 took the lives of senior citizens in Canada, especially those in old age homes. It devastated Italy. Because of its size, U.S. had the highest death and infection rates.

Climate change was in our mental pyramid because you don’t need to be a scientist to know that somebody did something bad to the air. That is why COVID-19 was killing us. But how can air be damaged, when we have trees, rain and other phenomenon that vacuum the air naturally?

We destroy trees. It’s called development. We ‘clear the land’ before we move in to lay the foundation for more factories, sports stadiums, double-storey mansions, affordable housing, shopping malls and parking.

We can see deforestation, but we do not see the toxic chemicals industry releases into the air until COVID-19 hits. It was clear with coal miners in England, in 1930 and beyond. They had lung disease because they inhaled the soot from the product they mined.

We are safe, you argue. After all, we work in air-conditioned offices. But we drive. There are five cars at home if there are five adults and they run on oil, not milk.

Well! We are concerned about climate change, but not now. There are more immediate concerns. What could be more immediate that dangerous air that makes kids wear masks?

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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