As the old adage goes, “In every shadow, there is light.” Indeed, positive and heartwarming things do come together even when the days seem to speak only of gloom and dread. Today, even as the world mourns more than 3 million infections and 200000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, it is important to also look at some positive side-effects that have resulted.
Chief among these impacts is the decrease in humanity’s environmental footprint. Due to the halting of many industries, lockdowns mandating citizens to remain home, and the decline in international travel, the level of pollution has been reduced greatly on a global level. China saw a 25% reduction in carbon emissions, which a scientist estimated to have saved 77000 lives in 2 months. The canals of Venice have become clean and calm again. Just this April, coal has not contributed to the UK’s electricity grid for a straight 3 weeks, the longest since the Industrial Revolution. In northern India, the Himalayas are again visible for the first time in 30 years. (shown in image)
What does this show? It clearly shows that in just an extremely short span of time, unprecedented actions by humanity that cut back on our emissions and footprint can have a very significant impact. For too long, too many have been naysayers and pessimists who have resigned to the assumption that humanity’s actions for the past two centuries are completely irreversible. In fact, what has been lacking thus far until now is a lack of will - both politically and from ordinary people like you and me - to treat environmental issues as an emergency.
However, it is uncertain how long this will last. Once the pandemic is over and a vaccine is developed (hopefully), governments all around the world would seek to rebound and recover their economies from the recession. Industry would be promoted and regulations would be relaxed, in order to foster high GDP growth rates. While such a course of actions is expected and totally understandable, it is anything but wise. The environmental crisis is also a crisis that affects the lives of everyone, even if it may not be as rapid or as painfully obvious as the pandemic we are handling now. In fact, this pandemic should have taught us certain lessons already, which are applicable to other crises as well.
First, it is better to act early in the face of incoming trouble rather than procrastinate until the problem worsens to a much more severe extent. We know it is coming - the Earth is warming, sea levels are rising, the air becoming dirtier - and while we still can act, we should, before it reaches the point where it is too late to regret.
Second, the growth of an economy is not everything. In the fight against coronavirus, in order to save and protect lives, lockdowns and other strict measures were implemented worldwide, which came at a huge cost to the economy. The same can be said of the environment. Air pollution can cause respiratory conditions, water pollution can lead to contamination, and rising sea levels can destroy the homes of millions. Yes, the economy needs to grow, but the growth also has to be sustainable, and it is time to decouple growth and our environmental footprint.
Third, we live in a globalised and interconnected world, and no country is immune from problems that transcend national boundaries. Just because environmental issues often manifest in the form of food security concerns in Africa, droughts in the Middle East, or flooding in remote low-lying islands, does not mean that developed countries will not be affected.
The world as we know it would definitely change drastically after the pandemic, in many ways that are not very favourable to our lives. But change can also be for the better, and there is no better turning point for nature than right now.
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