In case you missed it, the momentous decision that didn’t make
headlines at the COP27 meeting this month is that we’ve given up trying
to prevent climate catastrophe.
headlines at the COP27 meeting this month is that we’ve given up trying
to prevent climate catastrophe.
The headline that did emerge – richer nations promising to send some
disaster compensation pennies to poorer nations – was a fig leaf for the
failure.
The 1.5°C thing is over. The fast-approaching main game isn’t about how many more points of a degree we’ll warm – it’s tipping points in the systems that sustain us.
And the Albanese Government was in that failure up to its we’re-a-little
bit-better-than-the-other-mob’s neck. It’s too hard. We don’t really care – we like the gas and coal money.
Too hard
Not dissimilarly, we’ve given up on preventing the spread of, and deaths
from, COVID-19.
from, COVID-19.
It became too hard to wear masks; we don’t care about the people dying or suffering morbidity issues from the virus.
The people still on the frontline nearly three years later, the people we
were loudly hailing as heroes in 2020, they haven’t given up. They’re still
sweating in PPE, still getting sick as they tend the sick.
But we’ve stopped caring about them, too.
Hospitalisations are surging again as the latest wave has its way with us, the seven-day rolling average up to 2242 in the week to November 22 and rising. The seven-day ICU average jumped by 43 per cent in the
week to 75.
The nurses and orderlies and doctors having to deal with it, frustratingly
begging for help to lower the numbers, we’ve stopped listening to them.
Like aged care, health care is something we want other people to do for
us while we avoid responsibility for the unpleasant stuff. And we’d prefer
them not to remind us. We don’t hear them when they try.
us while we avoid responsibility for the unpleasant stuff. And we’d prefer
them not to remind us. We don’t hear them when they try.
Moved on
How many people are dying from COVID? Google it, if you want to know
– but you probably don’t. If we see a number somewhere low on the news agenda it barely registers.
– but you probably don’t. If we see a number somewhere low on the news agenda it barely registers.
Of course, COVID isn’t the only disease we have such an attitude
towards. It’s just the newest one, though it’s ageing fast from a news
interest point of view.
Sure, it’s our third-biggest killer, but we’ve accepted that as part of the
furniture. We’ve moved on as we have with other challenges.
We have a diabetes plague that doesn’t concern us much, doesn’t
concern us enough to take on Big Sugar or sort out the conflicting claims about the drug industry vs low carbohydrate diet treatment.
