The Tepid Take

The spring breeze has beckoned a lighter lockdown, and now there's murmurs of a post-crisis politics. Here's the lay of the land: air pollution had reduced drastically worldwide, to the extent that it is visible from satellite. People are being encouraged to live their lives more locally than before and the aviation industry is suffering historic lows in passenger numbers. All this, says the optimist, points to a decisive environmental moment where we can take action to create a new status quo, a new normal where these behaviours are maintained. While I don’t disagree that the above would be a positive, seismic change, it is arguably a mischaracterisation of the ideological status quo. Leaving this crisis with a message that is all about climate, a la ExtinctionRebellion , is missing the point around how people have really experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. I am looking to clarify here why economic behaviours, and not environmental ones, are the ones likely to be most accep