Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency

What does COVID tell us about climate change and what should we do about it? 

The economic and social consequences of the coronavirus pandemic have been unprecedented. Governments note that they are in a state of war and are forced to seek new powers to maintain public order and prevent the spread of the virus. This is often done with the thought that we will return to normal life as soon as we can. If the state is able to mobilize in the face of an invisible enemy, such as this pandemic, it should also be able to confront visible dangers, such as climate destruction, with equal force. In his book «Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency: War Communism in the 21st Century», leading environmental thinker Andreas Malm argues that this state of war preparedness should be applied on a permanent basis to the ongoing climate front. He suggests how the climate movement should use the current emergency to prove this. There can be no more excuses for inaction. 

Andreas Malm is a human ecology specialist, teaching at Lund University. 

Author of the books «The Progress of This Storm: Nature and Society in a Warming World» and «Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming», which received the Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize.