Contradictheory: Blowing our chances to hit the reset button

We could have taken the opportunity provided by Covid-19-triggered lockdowns to double down on renewable energy and decommission ageing, inefficient coal-fired power stations while power consumption was reduced – but, sadly, we didn’t. — AFP

There’s a very famous comic book called Watchmen, where (spoilers ahead!) a fictional alien invasion force is invented in an attempt to get the United States and Russia to stop the nuclear-age cold war between them and instead unite against a common foe. In 2020, Covid-19 presented the world with a similar opportunity to show that we could put our differences aside to fight a global threat. Yet we failed to rise to the occasion and stubbornly bickered over many things – including, in the early stages, whether the virus itself was a real threat or not.

When it comes to humanity, I am an optimist. I would like to think that our natural state is on the side of the better angels. That, when given the chance to find common ground, we can.