Will the Silver Lining Stay?

Climate change, geopolitics, and their relation to the current coronavirus pandemic
​By: Shreeya Indap

What is the silver lining of the corona virus pandemic? 
While the world has plummeted into a state of devastation in light of the recent coronavirus outbreak, one positive arises. Worldwide emissions have decreased, smog has cleared from the airs in the largest cities, and animals are returning to the streets that they once occupied. In fact, in the month of February, China alone had an emissions drop of around 25% (~200 million tons), “more than half the annual emissions of Britain.” As we watch from inside our homes, nature adapts alongside us, slowly returning to its previous glory.

What does this mean for humanity?
This current pandemic is a look into our future, and day by day shapes how we will likely combat another life-threatening health issue: climate change. Similar to the race for a coronavirus vaccine, fighting climate change will directly save millions of lives by reducing diseases, cleaning out our air and water, and slowing our rising sea levels or catastrophic weather conditions, which evidence shows it has already done through corona. In fact, according to Marshall Burke, an assistant professor at Stanford, the few months of decreased pollution in China, has possibly saved 4,000 children under the age of 5 and 73,000 adults over the age of 70. But when the world bounces back from its few months of staying indoors, will people remember the “love for nature” they gained during their daily government sanctioned walks? Pollution will return to its previous levels as fast as it decreased, and sooner or later, we’ll be forced into quarantine once again, perhaps this time with no end.

​What could reverse these short lived climate improvements (based on the current trends during COVID-19)?

1. Ignoring expert advice + improper healthcare infrastructures. Professionals had warned for years that our government lacked the proper preparation for a global pandemic, both in research and resources, to efficiently slow its spread. COVID-19 has exposed the detriments of ignoring scientific cautions, along with the broken healthcare system our essential workers must attempt to combat life-threatening issues with. However, while this novel pandemic will certainly pass eventually, climate change has persisted for decades and still lacks proper addressing. The issues differ in that coronavirus appeared so quickly that it felt much more urgent, and everyone entered a frenzy to slow its spread. But taken into perspective, it will disappear just as fast. Climate change, on the other hand, is a slow moving public health emergency, seemingly paradoxical, as “slow moving” doesn’t translate to “act now” for most.
2. Lack of international collaboration. COVID-19 has shifted geopolitics drastically. Collaboration, e.g. for climate change, existed much more before the pandemic occurred; many countries now are attempting to pass regulations that would allowed them to hoard resources for themselves, along with blaming others for their suffering. For example, President Trump attempted to cease the export of face masks to other countries, which company 3M stated had “significant humanitarian implications.” Tensions between European Union countries became so drastic that France’s president Emmanuel Macron himself stated that "If we do not show solidarity, Italy, Spain or others would be able to say to their European partners: Where have you been when we were on the front line? I do not want this selfish and divided Europe." This political blame game will slow the fight against coronavirus, and if similar mentalities persist, could possibly backtrack the few steps we’ve made globally to combat climate change as well.
3. A blind political focus on fast economic recovery. The two trillion dollar stimulus bill that was recently passed by Congress offers $500 billion in bail outs to affected industries, yet while many large polluters are on this list, renewable energy does not appear. To recover from economic losses, industries with high levels of emissions are likely to bounce back fast. Without strong political backlash, as countries attempt to improve their economies once more, they’ll be here to stay. 
4. Social distancing mandates postponing vital climate action. While a necessary precaution to take against the virus, mandates to suspend work and gatherings have greatly decreased climate research and international discussions that played essential roles in combating the issue. Even once these regulations are lifted, the speed of action against climate change could remain very low.

How can we make this silver lining last?

1. Demanding political changes. We must vote for candidates with similar issues at mind as well as directly campaign for changes in renewable energy, transportation systems, health infrastructures, and green policies.
2. Funding renewable energy. From an economic perspective, governments should fund renewable energy industries and jobs, rather than polluters. These markets have a greater return on investment in the long run as we become more reliant on alternative fuel.
3. International efforts through shared technologies and stricter regulations. Only worldwide cooperation, through widespread innovative technologies that combat climate change and stronger regulations on the biggest polluters, will work. Just like the eventual coronavirus vaccine, climate change solutions should be spread globally as soon as they are created.
4. Take the COVID-19 pandemic as a lesson to be learned. Our shortcomings during this crisis should be analyzed and their solutions should be made available/adapted at a large scale to combat climate change; more mandatory work from home for those who can, create grocery lists to reduce car trips, virtual classes, appreciate our essential workers who keep society running, and in general, a realization that we can respond in unison. If citizens of the world could come together to fight coronavirus, can't we do the same for climate change before an infinite lockdown commences​?

Living in a bubble. Credit: Sana Indap

Overall, we require a mass mindset shift, both socially and politically, to combat climate change. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted exactly what needs fixing and we can ready ourselves for this certain future health and environmental crisis. Obviously, corporations play the largest role in worldwide emissions (e.g. in China, the 25% drop of emissions was mainly credited to a stop in industrial manufacturing). But ultimately, it’s in our hands to take control over something the power hungry will not, because we are still capable of change. This quarantine has especially highlighted what our wants and needs truly are, and if everyone continued through with this behavioral change, the inevitable could be slowed down. Along with small actions such as less car trips, there will hopefully be a mindset shift in which people begin to consider environmental contagions as a real issue and vote accordingly. 

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Because unlike a virus that will eventually die down, climate change will take much, much longer to recover from, potentially killing us while it’s at it. We are past any prevention stage. We’re living in a world of climate change. But, we don’t have to be a virus to this world. We can be our own vaccine.