This crisis is a real opportunity for serious change
There are two ways out of the present crisis. We could simply sink back into the old ways of wasteful travel, gridlocked traffic and the pollution it produces and the destruction of the environment through global heating. Or we could seize the opportunity to deal properly with the climate crisis before it is too late.Rahm Emanuel's dictum that you should never let a crisis go to waste has become such a cliche now, but in the case of the coronavirus outbreak, there really is truth in it. As the FT argues in today's main editorial, governments should launch new policies to promote a green economic recovery, choosing to emulate FDR's New Deal by using their spending power to stimulate an economic recovery that doesn't lock in a fossil-fuel economy - and foolish fossil-fuel subsidies should be the first to go. But there is so much more that governments can do, from a complete restructuring of economies, retraining workers to do sustainable jobs, investing in renewable energy and controlling the ubiquity of the car (and Sadiq Khan's plans to close many central London streets in favour of walkers and cyclists is a small start in the right direction).But will governments, ours in particular have the foresight to take this path? I'm not holding my breath (though I may have to if pollution on our streets starts shooting up again).
Richard Carter ● 2368d25 Comments ● 2358d