COVID-19 has Revealed the Fault Lines of our Broken Civilization

The coronavirus has exposed the ugly underbelly of systemic racism, rampant inequality and environmental degradation. This virus lays bare the inhumanity of economic disparity and uncovers the insanity of our genocide against nature. It unmasks incompetent leaderships and unveils the brokenness of our political system.  It reveals glaring weaknesses at the core of our economic system. This includes the myopic pursuit of short term profits at the expense of the biosphere on which both we and our economies depend.

The coronavirus is the latest in a succession of warnings that now includes economic collapse. The first-quarter GDP fell 4.8 percent in the US, the worst contraction since the Great Recession and we are looking at an unprecedented 52.8 percent decline in the second quarter. The situation is compounded by confusing and counterproductive messaging from the White House. Trump has made policy decisions that exacerbate the problem his denial, slow response, and mishandling of the pandemic have made the situation far worse. Research out of Columbia University, blames the Trump administration's failures for the deaths of 36,000 people. The situation continues to spiral out of control and the ruling administration's ineptitude is expected to keep adding to the more than 136,000 people who have been killed by the virus. Although the stated goal is to open the economy the ongoing spread of the virus will undermine the economic recovery.

The pandemic has shed light on a president who undermines renewable energy. It has exposed an  administration that supports the fossil fuel even though the air pollution generated by the industry is known to exacerbate COVID-19.  The oil and gas industry largely own the GOP and the dirty energy uses their political minions to hijack the narrative and weave webs of disinformation that enable them to continue selling a product that threatens life on Earth. 

There is reason to hope even in the midst of despair.  The virus highlights the moral bankruptcy of leaders who make proclamations that are both inaccurate and harmful. COVID-19 has set in motion a cascade of events that will ripple through our economies and change the political and social fabric of our world. This virus may even augur a seismic shift in geopolitics that alters our collective trajectory.

The coronavirus has accelerated the move away from fossil fuels. Despite the massive job losses in the energy sector, there is evidence to suggest that renewables are better positioned over the long term. The virus has driven a spate of oil bankruptcies and expedited the decline of the entire industry. The global divestment movement continues to grow and many investors no longer see the merit of building out infrastructure on the crumbling foundation of a dying industry. 

This deadly pandemic has augured a number of benefits including reminding us of the importance of facts and science, It has also made it clear that leaderships that eschew evidence-based policy pose a danger to human life.  Americans do not share the president's views, and all indications are that we will see unprecedented political change in November.

Will we learn from COVID-19 or will we return to business as usual?  One thing is certain, we are either on the cusp of a paradigm change or we are witnessing the collapse of civilization.

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