A “WELLBEING ECONOMY” MUST EMERGE FROM COVID-19
Yesterday, 26 March, climate litigation charity Plan B gathered together over 100 members of the British media, many of them leading figures in print and broadcast journalism, for a panel discussion on responding to the climate and ecological emergency in the context of Covid-19.
The panel included former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government, Sir David King, professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London, Sir Michael Marmot, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, Dr Gail Bradbrook, Professor Kevin Anderson, Professor Sam Fankhauser and Dr Jason Hickel.
There was broad consensus from the panel that, without major shifts to the world’s economic orientation, the world is heading for a three to four degree rise in global temperatures in the course of this century, placing not just millions but billions of human lives at risk. “Humanity stands at a crossroadscross-roads” it was said: governments must resist the temptation to bail out “business-as-usual” and should make human health and wellbeing central to economic policy.