Elise Rueppel is a rising high school sophomore outside of Boston. She loves the outdoors and spends her summers hiking, kayaking, and camping.
If you are looking for a concrete answer there isn’t one. I believe that the real answer lies in what we have learned throughout the past six months and how dedicated we remain to the environmental movement through the ups and downs that are inevitable for the future due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. While we need to stay focused on the current public health crisis on our hands, we cannot forget about the climate crisis and the ways that COVID-19 responses have and will continue to have an impact. Let’s look at a few examples, If you remember back to the early days when “Quarantine,” and “Unprecedented” were new words, the world was in lockdown. Travel was frozen, and nobody was going to work or even the grocery store. This proved to be a great gift to the environment because emissions plummeted to amazingly low levels. This was because transport contributes to roughly 25% of the world’s emissions, which was reduced with the slim number of cars on the road and planes in the air.
Industry contributes approximately 20% of emissions which was also reduced due to the shutdown of factories and businesses. In such a short period of time we were able to see how the environment was able to rebound, and many cities experienced their cleanest air ever. Unfortunately, while the world reopens, the levels have been rising again, although there is still a 5% reduction from the 2019 levels. This shows us what is possible, and highlights the need for clean, renewable energy going forward. However, there are negative implications of the pandemic as well. One in particular has been the disappearance of reusable bags, cups, straws, bowls, and so on. While this makes sense in eliminating the risk of spreading germs that pose a threat in a COVID-19 world, it feels like we are going backwards environmentally. It is important to recognize this, and remember how vital the return to reusable items will be when it is safe. Additionally, we know how important it is to wear a mask, but it is important to think about the kind of mask you are wearing and the impact it may have. Disposable masks are great for some instances, but the lack of proper disposal has led to unnecessary problems. Parking lots and streets lined with dirty masks are gross and unsanitary, but masks in the ocean are deadly. Not only do these masks contribute to the growing number of plastic pollution in the ocean that affects many species, but they also take about 450 years to decompose.
Future generations will not only learn about the effects of COVID-19 in a textbook, but will also see remnants floating in their ocean. How can we avoid this? Disposing of your mask properly is one way, but an even better solution is buying or making your own reusable and washable mask. This is a great example of how to take a problem brought about by COVID-19 and manage it in an eco-friendly way. This is important because in the midst of a public health crisis the worst thing we could do would be to forget about the environmental crisis as well.
On a different note, it would be easy to think that important legislations regarding climate have been put on the backburner due to the pandemic, but fortunately this summer we saw success. The Massachusetts State House passed a bill early August that outlines an emissions reduction roadmap for 2050 among many other things regarding climate action. This was a symbol that even in these trying times we still need to focus and work on climate issues. With state and national elections coming soon, it will be interesting to see how citizens show up and vote for climate in this COVID-19 era.
As you can see, the results are mixed as to whether COVID-19 has helped or hurt the environment thus far. Being aware of the affects the pandemic has had on the environment and working to figure out solutions that will benefit both crises is what is important. We cannot allow COVID-19 to stop us from fighting for the environment. Let’s kill COVID-19, not the environment.