Two Grey Rhinos
A Grey Rhino is a term used to define a danger that’s slow moving, obvious and yet is conveniently ignored. Somewhat of an opposite of a Black Swan.
Its argued that the Climate Crisis is one such event. Its a slow moving, massive danger that can have a huge impact yet its largely getting ignored by the decision makers of the world.
There’s a theory that the measures we will end up taking to prevent the spread of CoronaVirus will also help us fight climate change. Be it cutting down unnecessary flights or unnecessary work commutes. The need for social distancing will effectively reduce factory production leading to less industrial pollution. It will have economic impact of course, but the impact will be easier to bear fighting a virus than fighting climate change.
There’s another theory that government officials and the “experts” of the world should have seen the viral pandemic coming. It was a Grey Rhino for them, they kept ignoring it and eventually it became a Black Swan.
The climate crisis may also hurt us like this one day.
There are plenty of parallels that can be drawn between COVID-19 and climate change.
This article from ‘Axios’ brings out these parallels and also explains how both of these events are Grey Rhinos that we brought upon ourselves. The are obvious risks we ignore.
Check it out —
Coronavirus and climate change are obvious risks we ignore
(3 mins)
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EDIT:
Update from Michele, she’s the creator of the term Gray Rhinos. This is how she defines it —
“Hi, a gray rhino is NOT slow-moving by definition nor is it ALWAYS ignored. A gray rhino an is obvious, probable, impactful danger that gives people a choice to respond. Gray rhinos can be fast or slow, close or far, and so on; the concept includes an analytical framework that involves assessing the characteristics of different types of gray rhinos.”
