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Does Coronavirus Bring a New Perspective on Climate Change?

Readers discuss the effect of the virus on the environment going forward.

  Credit...Cristina Daura

To the Editor:

Re “What the Pandemic Means for Climate Change,” by Meehan Crist (Sunday Review, March 29):

In Los Angeles, New York, Manila and Milan, the skies clear as air pollution drops. In Venice, the canal water is clear enough to see fish, and dolphins are returning. What would the world be like if we decided to pursue this trend?

Less asthma and cancer, fewer lung and heart diseases, fewer deaths. More beauty in our lives. A slowing of global emissions.

Coronavirus is catastrophic, but it opens a new path. What if the frantic rush hours, relentless production of often unneeded or quickly obsolete items, and nonstop consumer spending were to calm? If we invested in renewable energy, electric cars and public transportation, and stopped funding fossil fuels, would we create good jobs and improve health for ourselves and the planet?

Before, it was hard to envision such a change, but now we can see glimpses of what it might offer. Any new stimulus bill in the United States should include funds for a transition to a more sustainable world. We owe it to our children and grandchildren.

Mary Makofske
Warwick, N.Y.

To the Editor:

Coronavirus: The dominance of this topic in all media is understandable, given the obvious global impact and need for immediate response. It is equally understandable that climate change has never generated this kind of urgency.

Human beings are just not wired to focus on long-term, slow-motion disasters, no matter how severe, especially when there are commercial interests involved that obscure the seriousness. It is not inevitable that the cleaner air and water we are witnessing have to be temporary and only associated with economic meltdown.

If the prospect of future heat waves, floods and extreme storms is not grabbing you, what about addressing millions of deaths every year that are happening right now because of particulate air pollution?

Carbon-pricing and cash-back legislation is consistent with a climate change stimulus package that builds a carbon-neutral society. Meehan Crist is wisely calling for a human-centered economy we can live with forever, not a finance-centered, consumer-driven one that we live and die for.

Gary M. Stewart
Laguna Beach, Calif.
The writer is an internist.

To the Editor:

Paul Krugman’s explanation of the connection between coronavirus denialism and climate denialism was spot on (column, nytimes.com, March 28). But the analogy is even deeper than he said.

Like climate change, a pandemic is outside the experience of today’s population. Like climate change, a pandemic develops gradually, with small effects at first. Like climate change, a pandemic has effects that must be predicted using scientific concepts that many people do not understand.

Like climate change, a pandemic has effects that are predictable in general but somewhat uncertain in detail. Like climate change, a pandemic must be controlled by decisive action taken long before the worst effects are felt, with immediate pain to vested economic interests.

The time scales are different, but the traits are similar. Our policymakers have not been good at making costly changes today to avoid dramatic harms in the future.

Steve C. Gold
Caldwell, N.J.
The writer teaches environmental law at Rutgers.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 22 of the New York edition with the headline: A New Perspective on Climate Change?. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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