The Terminator Line

Since the world has been overtaken by a pandemic, I've been doing a lot of reading about climate change. I think, in a strange way, it's a good time for it. Firstly because, here in Australia at least, the issue exploded back into the headlines last year. The heads of our emergency services told us that climate change is the root cause of the most devestating bushfire season we've ever had. Following on the heels of the School Strike 4 Climate movement, the fires shifted the conversation out of the weeds of market mechanisms, to the need for bold action in line with the science.

Secondly, some of the bold actions we need to take, which seemed unthinkable in the era of neoliberalism, are suddenly on the table again - because of the pandemic. Air travel has been heavily restricted, economies have been deliberately shrunk for the sake of public health, the insecurity of a just-in-time global production and transport system has been been rubbed in our faces. And even more than all that, people are realising that the constant need for more - to work and stress our whole lives to forestall the fear that there won't be enough - is actually a social choice.

Meanwhile, the terminator line keeps approaching. Not the one I started writing about when I was travelling the world, the one that separates day from night; but the one that separates us from a liveable climate for humanity. There may be a blip in global emissions thanks to this pandemic, but if we don't use this opportunity to make radical changes, then the sun will keep setting on us.