EXCERPT

Rarely does one get a reprieve before encountering a big test, but this is exactly what the coronavirus pandemic offers humanity as we struggle to address climate change. The first two decades of the twenty-first century continued the Great Acceleration, begun in the mid-twentieth century, of human economic activity dominating Earth’s biophysical systems. Then suddenly, a few weeks ago, these global trends slowed down.

Nature has provoked a Great Lull, offering breathing room for humanity to pause and consider what sort of world we want to live in. In this moment of profound suffering, exacerbated by craven profit-seeking government officials who disregard science, the Great Lull creates space to consider how we might re-shape our policies and systems to be more life sustaining for humans and nature alike. As we revel in the sparkling clarity of a planet with lower carbon emissions—crystalline urban air, clear lakes, abundant birdsong, on the fiftieth anniversary of Earth Day—we must re-assess the toll that consumptive, extractive lifestyles take on planetary health, and orient our values and vision toward collective well-being that prioritizes the most vulnerable and promotes flourishing ecosystems.