The problem is that politicians tend to focus on the local and the short term, what happens before the next election and of course in their constituency, in their country. And the preparation to combat pandemics has to be done globally. And in the climate context, one is asking people to spend money up front to ameliorate a possible global risk, which will have a bigger effect on other countries, for instance those in the tropics, than it will on us. And it will mainly affect future generations. We shouldn’t discount the future. We should care about the lifespan of babies born today who will be alive in the 22nd century. But it’s a difficult ask to get politicians to commit resources and time and effort to these long-term global issues when they obviously have urgent parochial ones.
Lord Martin Rees is the 15th Astronomer Royal, a position established by England’s King Charles II in 1675
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