Connect the Dots Coronavirus, Climate Change, and Racial Injustice by A nne D ’Olivo
Where to begin? The start of a thesis, or a summary? So much, so little. Social injustice. The 1% vs. the 99%. How do we change that? We have to take a global perspective. Look at the countries that are succeeding in both the pandemic and climate change. Take New Zealand for example. Led by a female leader who is young, who cares about her people, who is trying to do the right thing in this contrary age. Then we have the USA, led by a male leader who is old, who has no empathy, who does not lead by example, and who is totally contrary. Some say this country is doing better than most, but in what way? Economically? Perhaps for a few, but for how long? Certainly not the best in terms of cases and deaths during the pandemic, and certainly not in our response to climate change. In fact,
8
C limat e + Cov i d 2
350Vt
we are the worst country in both counts. The worst in terms of data, the worst in terms of the Paris Climate Agreement, the worst in terms of global cooperation. Since 2016, this country has isolated itself from the rest of the world. What we had previously has been dismantled in four short years. So what does this all mean, and how are COVID-19 and climate change influencing each other? We know for a fact that BIPOC low-income communities are affected by both the pandemic and climate change to the point where their health, their livelihoods, and their very lives are in danger. As an example, look at what is happening in the Navajo nation. The majority have no electricity, therefore no internet, no local healthcare, no insurance, no running water with which to wash their hands, little employment, no decent access to