A highway exchange stands empty of traffic after the government implemented restrictions to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in Lima, Peru, on March 18, 2020. Does the global response to COVID-19 suggest there?s hope for climate action"

AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd
Eric Galbraith, McGill University and Ross Otto, McGill University
In the past few weeks, governments around the world have enacted dramatic measures to mitigate the threat of COVID-19.
It?s too soon to know whether these measures will prove too little to limit mass mortality, or so extreme that they set off economic catastrophe. But what is absolutely clear is that the pandemic response is in stark contrast to the lack of effective action on climate change, despite a number of similarities between the two threats. The alarms for both COVID-19 and climate change were sounded by experts, well in advance of visible crises. It is easy to forget, but at the time of this writing, the total deaths from COVID-19 are less than 9,000 ? it is the terrifying computer model predictions of much larger numbers that have alerted governments to the need for swift action, despite the disruption this is causing to everyday life.
Yet computer models of climate change also predict a steady march of increasing deaths, surpassing 250,000 people per year within two decades from now.
As scientists who have studied climate change and the psychology of decision-making, we find ourselves asking: Why do the government responses to CO...