Reason or Force?

Covid mandates may handicap efforts to protect the Earth

Chile’s coast of arms. The Andean deer (huemul) symbolizes reason, the condor represents force.

THE MOTTO on the Chilean coat of arms, por la razón o la fuerza, reveals basic ways people can sway, or impose their will on, others in society. Governments have great means at their disposal to get us to behave in a manner that serves the common good, or otherwise. They do this through reason (sound or unsound) or by force (ranging from mild to extreme).

Unless you’ve self-isolated in the wilderness for the past two years, it is obvious that there’s an ongoing culture war over what measures society should take in response to the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. Of late, I’ve become concerned that actions by governments (more lockdowns, travel restrictions, vaccine requirements, etc.) will ultimately hamper efforts to fight climate change and biodiversity loss. Mandates to deal with coronavirus are being met with growing, often fierce, public opposition.

Stiff penalties for refuseniks and use of force to quell anti-mandate protests (as we are seeing in Canada at the moment) could have the unintended effect of weakening government’s ability to adopt and enforce strong environmental policies.

I’m hopeful that within a decade or so, the world will begin ditching pro-growth economics in favor of a steady-state system to avoid worsening ecological and climatic chaos. Such reform will require huge lifestyle changes on the part of most people, particularly in affluent countries. Society’s preoccupation with acquisition of consumer goods will have to end.

There’s no doubt that bold government leadership will be needed for these cultural and economic reforms to occur. (I’ll say more about this in an upcoming commentary, Admit it—We’re Overconsuming.) But fundamental change won’t be possible without widespread public respect, confidence, and trust in governance on matters pertaining to health and the environment.

As the pandemic wanes, it seems wise for governments to end mask mandates, vaccine passports, and the like. It’s not worth risking an even greater swell of anti-authority antibodies that may, for decades to come, undermine efforts to save the world.