{"id":25204,"date":"2020-04-17T12:31:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T16:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=25204"},"modified":"2020-04-17T12:31:26","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T16:31:26","slug":"payne-infectious-disease-not-climate-emerges-as-globes-greatest-health-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2020\/04\/payne-infectious-disease-not-climate-emerges-as-globes-greatest-health-threat","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Infectious disease, not climate, emerges as globe’s greatest health threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n<\/div>

The US was totally unprepared for coronavirus despite years of infectious disease warnings. Michigan National Guard members move beds for patients with coronavirus at the TCF Center.\u00a0(Photo: Max Ortiz, The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n

As late as early March, Michigan\u2019s auto companies and government leaders were trumpeting a new economic course based on fears that climate change was the world\u2019s greatest health threat.<\/p>\n

Then came the\u00a0coronavirus crisis wake-up call.<\/p>\n

Auto companies and governments are now belatedly retooling to fight World War C,\u00a0investing billions to combat a health crisis that has gripped the planet with citizens making radical changes in their behavior to reduce COVID-19 transmissions\u00a0\u2014\u00a0not carbon dioxide emissions.<\/p>\n

The new normal confirms what economic and scientific experts at the Copenhagen Consensus and other institutions have warned for decades: That infectious disease, not climate, is\u00a0humankind\u2019s greatest threat and where mitigation dollars can have their biggest impact.<\/p>\n

At a March 4 investor event, General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra laid out a 50-state, National Zero Emissions Vehicle Program to combat global warming:\u00a0\u201cWe believe climate change is real, it\u2019s a global concern and the best way to remove automotive ambitions from the environmental equation is an all-electric zero emissions future.”<\/p>\n

But GM\u2019s $20 billion gamble on electrification with the introduction of 20 EVs by 2023 was quickly drowned out by the coronavirus tsunami. Just six weeks later, all 50 states would be under a major federal disaster declaration for the first time in history \u2014\u00a0not for rising temperatures, but for fear of an infectious disease. Auto sales tanked and the industry transitioned plants\u00a0to make ventilators.<\/p>\n

GM\u2019s climate change ambitions have been echoed by Ford Motor Co., Volkswagen AG, Honda Motor Co. and other automakers \u2014 and dovetail with international and state governments whose climate policies are forcing automakers to convert to electric vehicles.<\/p>\n

In her first State of the State address last year, Gov.\u00a0Gretchen Whitmer identified climate change, along with safe drinking water, as the greatest health threat facing the state: \u201cClimate change and extreme weather are already putting Michiganders at risk.<\/p>\n

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