The challenges of climate change and global health require solutions that oppose the solutions necessary to compete for global power. Consider how the need to fight climate change requires a significant rollback in greenhouse gas emissions. A part of this rollback would require a re-conceptualization of industries like oil and industrial agriculture. Industries like these run on human activities that are accelerating the rate of catastrophic climate change. However, in countries like the United States, these industries are central to economic growth, an area at the forefront of the global power struggle with countries like China and Russia.

In a similar way, the feasible solutions to many health challenges facing countries like the United States require a reconceptualization of how the health industry is run. For example, consider how healthcare is not free in the United States and is instead connected with a person's form and status of employment. This makes the healthcare industry a huge source of profit and big business in the country. However, the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the downsides of this for-profit health system, as many Americans have avoided going to doctors to get tested and treated because they cannot afford it. This has led to the accelerated and unchecked spread of the virus, which then led to a prolonged economic downturn. To effectively address this issue, the American government has been forced to reflect on how to make healthcare more affordable and accessible. This is helpful for American citizens, but not helpful for the expansion of the American industry that is necessary to compete with other global superpowers.

For countries like America that are trying to compete with global powers, dealing with all issues consistently and simultaneously would require coordination and constructive dialogue across many sectors of governments. For example, those pushing for industrial and economic expansion must not ignore those pushing to keep climate regulations in place, and vice versa. These solutions would have to be based on compromise, which would mean that the ideal solution to all problems would have to be re-assessed. For instance, the country would have to accept limitations to its ability to compete economically with powers like China if it wants to continue confronting challenges like climate change and health crises.