The cruel irony of the Climate Reality Leadership Training postponement

On Friday evening, Ken Berlin announced the tough but understandable decision to postpone the upcoming Climate Reality Leadership Training in Las Vegas. I sincerely commend the Climate Reality Project for making a difficult yet ultimately wise decision to protect the health of all those involved in the training. The news saddened me but did not overly surprise me - public safety should be the foremost concern. 

Part of my excitement for attending the training was to leverage the organization’s platform and influence as I look to raise awareness and promote productive action to ameliorate climate change. While I am disheartened by the training’s postponement, it occurred to me soon after the announcement that the circumstances are a particularly cruel irony.

Among the most deleterious impacts of climate change is the propagation of infectious diseases. As the planet warms, disease carriers (particularly insects) will expand their ranges. Bats, the likely animal vector of COVID-19, maintain warmer body temperatures than humans and thus can carry many pathogens unscathed. As global temperatures rise, bats (and other animals) will remain largely immune from these pathogens but humans won’t, creating perfect conditions for similar vector-borne epidemics. While I haven’t seen a clear link between COVID-19 prevalence and rising temperatures, the virus speaks to the inevitability of similar epidemics becoming more common in a warmer and more connected world. The Climate Reality Project itself published a blog post in 2018 highlighting the link between climate change and vector-borne disease risk.

Climate change is not the only form of environmental change that can promote such diseases. The World Health Organization describes various connections between anthropogenic impacts and disease propagation. Climate change itself has other serious public health impacts beyond disease. Air pollution will worsen as excess carbon dioxide promotes the growth of plants that release allergens, as well as ‘stagnation days’ that trap pollutants close to the ground. Extreme weather events will become more frequent and intense, placing millions of vulnerable people at severe risk. Heat-related illnesses will spread, particularly in temperate areas ill-equipped to deal with extremely hot days. Agricultural productivity will fall in many areas as crop yields and nutrient densities decline. 

Mental health might be affected as well; for example, Greta Thunberg suffered from depression when she first understood the gravity of climate change, which played a role in her decision to strike outside of the Swedish Parliament. Even cognitive ability declines considerably as carbon dioxide concentrations rise. In sum, the list of climate-induced health problems is long and terrifying.

While COVID-19 does not appear to be related to climate change, I think the circumstances behind its rise and the threat that similar situations pose will be amplified in a warmer world. As an aside, infectious disease experts hope that warmer weather will contain the virus, but we likely won’t know for some time.

I carry tremendous sympathy for those more directly affected by COVID-19: those who have contracted the virus along with their friends and loved ones, not to mention those who are working to contain it and keep people safe. Possible epidemics can stimulate our most innate fears, but I believe it’s better to remain level-headed and instead prepare for the risk that you or someone near you will be affected. Click here for guidance on how to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.