What COVID-19 and Climate Change Have in Common

On this week’s episode of Political Climate, we discuss the behavioral science behind our response to these global threats.

Julia Pyper March 19, 2020

Julia Pyper

Senior Editor
Greentech Media

Julia Pyper is a Senior Editor at Greentech Media covering the energy transition. She is also the host and producer of the Political Climate podcast. She previously reported for E&E Publishing, and has covered clean energy and climate change issues across the U.S. and abroad, including in India, Haiti, Israel and the Maldives. She holds degrees from McGill and Columbia Universities. Find her on Twitter @JMPyper.

With cases recorded in more than 140 countries, the novel coronavirus has become a global health crisis.

In the U.S., bars and offices have been closed, conferences canceled and kids kept home from school in an attempt to slow the spread. President Trump has declared a national emergency and invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate the virus response.

So why aren’t we reacting as aggressively to climate change — another human-propelled global catastrophe that could harm human health and well-being for generations to come?

These threats are not the same, but they do share certain attributes. We discuss the intersection of climate change, COVID-19 and U.S. politics with risk and behavioral scientist Sweta Chakraborty, founder of Adapt to Thrive and co-host of the live weekly radio show “Risky Behavior.”