Nature strikes back – let’s finally listen to those who understand them best!

Every crisis creates its own heroes. In the current crisis, these are primarily the nurses, paramedics and doctors who work to exhaustion using their own health to maintain our health system, but also the supermarket sellers, pharmacists, truck and forklift drivers, postmen, up to the teachers and educators who are quickly converting to digital teaching in order to provide our children with the necessary learning material even in times of crisis. And another group is rehabilitating in this crisis: the scientists, who for a number of years have been confronted with the zeitgeist of “fake news”, political lies, ideological fundamentalism, pseudo-religious power legitimizations and the dull simplicity of the world Germany, the scientists and virologists Christian Drosten and Alexander Kekulé are among the most popular public figures, and in the United States a true fan club has formed around the doctor, immunologist and presidential advisor Anthony Fauci, whose statements are so unusually honest compared to those of his boss, appear factual and truthful. The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. appear factual and truthful. The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. appear factual and truthful.The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. immunologist and presidential advisor Anthony Fauci, whose statements are so unusually honest compared to those of his boss, appear factual and truthful. The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. appear factual and truthful. The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. appear factual and truthful.The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. immunologist and presidential advisor Anthony Fauci, whose statements are so unusually honest compared to those of his boss, appear factual and truthful. The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. appear factual and truthful. The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. appear factual and truthful.The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. appear factual and truthful. The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. appear factual and truthful.The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. appear factual and truthful. The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists. appear factual and truthful.The corona virus has accomplished something that previously seemed almost impossible: the public exposure of the intellectual dishonesty of right-wing populists.

The populism of lies and hostility to science Donald Trumps and Michael Pences, Jair Bolsonaros and Recep Tayyip Erdoğans, Scott Morrisons and Boris Johnson and their propaganda channels like Fox News are confronted with the pitiless reality of a global pandemic that Trump and Co. have existed until there was no other way. The rejection of facts („This is no more than a flu wave“, Trump, Bolsonaro), the lies („We have tests for everyone“, Trump), („Brazilians cannot get infected“, „God is Brazilian. The cure is right here „, Bolsonaro) and the deliberate misleading (“ Anti-malaria pills heal the corona sufferers „, Trump, Bolsonaro), (“ One day the virus will disappear like a miracle „, Trump), (“ Cologne water helps against Corona », Erdoğan) – all of this is mercilessly exposed at its untrue core by the dynamics of the Corina crisis. The fundamental weakness of the Corona virus is revealed by Donald Trump’s previous preference for guiding the United States through his hunches and his unbelievable gut feeling, rather than through the recognition of facts and scientific evidence. The destructive power of this virus clearly reveals the failings of the populist right as well as its prejudices against scientific knowledge. If Trump had only listened to the scientists and public health experts, he could have averted the disaster for his country or at least made it much milder. Guiding the United States through its premonitions and its perceived gut instinct, rather than through fact and scientific evidence , is revealed by the corona virus in its fundamental weakness. The destructive power of this virus clearly reveals the failings of the populist right as well as its prejudices against scientific knowledge. If Trump had only listened to the scientists and public health experts, he could have averted the disaster for his country or at least made it much milder. Guiding the United States through its premonitions and its perceived gut instinct, rather than through fact and scientific evidence, is revealed by the corona virus in its fundamental weakness. The destructive power of this virus clearly reveals the failings of the populist right as well as its prejudices against scientific knowledge. If Trump had only listened to the scientists and public health experts, he could have averted the disaster for his country or at least made it much milder. The destructive power of this virus clearly reveals the failings of the populist right as well as its prejudices against scientific knowledge. If Trump had only listened to the scientists and public health experts, he could have averted the disaster for his country or at least made it much milder. The destructive power of this virus clearly reveals the failings of the populist right as well as its prejudices against scientific knowledge. If Trump had only listened to the scientists and public health experts, he could have averted the disaster for his country or at least made it much milder.

Right-wing populists with their ruthless disregard for scientific evidence, eg about climate change or the dangers of environmental degradation, and general scientific knowledge that speak against their belief and value system, do not adhere to scientific advice when it comes to the dynamics of a pandemic, even if it’s as simple as the math of exponential growth. The government was particularly warned in the United States: After the Ebola epidemic in 2014, the Obama administration was so afraid of the dangers of another epidemic that it introduced several innovations to bring the nation up to date based on the latest scientific findings prepare possible pandemic . But every element of this effort has been ignored by the Trump administration, reduced or completely discontinued. The scientists knew a surprising amount about the virus and its danger at an early age: on January 5, scientists in Shanghai had found out the complete virus genome of an infected patient and immediately sent it to GenBank, the database for genetic sequencing of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), reported. In early February, the scientists knew that Covid-19 could be easily transmitted between individuals and that it occurs with a relatively high mortality rate, especially in the elderly and vulnerable. Instead of listening to the scientists, Trump and his associates decided not to take them seriously and instead to use the best practices of nepotism, the database for genetic sequencing of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), reported. In early February, the scientists knew that Covid-19 could be easily transmitted between individuals and that it occurs with a relatively high mortality rate, especially in the elderly and vulnerable. Instead of listening to the scientists, Trump and his associates decided not to take them seriously and instead to use the best practices of nepotism, the database for genetic sequencing of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), reported. In early February, the scientists knew that Covid-19 could be easily transmitted between individuals and that it occurs with a relatively high mortality rate, especially in the elderly and vulnerable. Instead of listening to the scientists, Trump and his associates decided not to take them seriously and instead to use the best practices of nepotism,

Now the harsh reality is catching up with all the lies, dogmas and scientific skepticism of the populists. If China, Korea and many countries in Europe reacted much earlier (sometimes still not early enough) and are slowly seeing the first successes in their actions, the growth of corona cases is particularly evident in the USA, Turkey and Brazil (where the cases within of the countries in the southern hemisphere are growing the most), even though they should have been warned relatively early due to the earlier dynamic in other countries. You could say that scientific truth has struck back in a brutal way.

The Corona crisis will now be over in the foreseeable future. But what about the long-term, much more far-reaching problem that the scientists are warning us about and that are rejected in their urgency or even existence by science skeptics like Trump and Bolsonaro? The reaction of Trump, Bolsonaro and others to the corona crisis corresponds to their reaction to the much bigger climate crisis. The very last of their voters and supporters should now be clear with the Corona crisis how thin the foundation of their anti-scientific ideology is. In addition, scientists have long since established a connection between the Covid19 virus and our destruction of the tropical rainforests. The Covid19 virus as well as the much more dangerous viruses from Ebola, HIV, Marburg fever, bird flu, Mers, Zika or Nipah are examples of animal diseases, so-called zoonoses, which have spread from wild animals to humans in the past decades. This transition is greatly favored by the shrinking habitat of the animals and the environmental degradation. Bats in particular are driving the restriction of their natural habitat out of the jungle, closer to humans. And bats carry a pool of at least 3200 different corona viruses! According to current knowledge, the corona pandemic cannot be directly attributed to deforestation of the rainforest and a direct connection to bats has not been clearly proven (presumably the virus spread to humans via an intermediate host at a wildlife market in Wuhan. This intermediate host, perhaps a small mammal, possibly infected with a bat), but it has long been clear to virologists: the combination of a wide range of wild animals with a high frequency (prevalence) of viruses and the ruthless reduction of habitat by humans makes Southeast Asia a hotspot in particular for jumping dangerous viruses onto humans. Here science is asked to analyze the potential dangers of these viruses in more detail and to prepare for possible jumps onto humans. But responsibility also lies with business and politics to stop this immense destruction of the environment. Simple steps are also necessary, such as closing wildlife markets, as has already happened in China. The Corona crisis and the political response to it all too clearly show that our societies are able to act in the face of crises. This insight should also help us in the climate crisis.

We should therefore recognize the current corona crisis as an opportunity: on the one hand, as an opportunity to recognize the steps necessary to be prepared for future, potentially even more dangerous viruses. On the other hand, we should keep the image of the bare helplessness of the right-wing populists in the corona crisis clearly in mind in the debate about the climate crisis. Their struggle against science, their shameless lies and their stubborn rejection of empirical evidence have written an inglorious chapter. We should not let them continue this struggle because we will all be losers in this struggle.