imagine if we directed as much attention as covid is getting toward such a more insidious, and more tractable, problem like air (and water) pollution. we could really do something in a relatively short time (like 2-5 years). for instance, we could measurably reduce air pollution by replacing the top 25 most polluting power plants (coal). that might cost on the order of a 100 billion dollars, but that's less than 1% of america's gdp, nevermind the world's.