During a year in which almost every part of our daily lives has come to a screeching halt, and all sense of normalcy has flown out the door, one thing remains constant: climate change. With the emergence of Covid-19, there seemed to be a brief respite in air pollution with dramatic decreases, due to a lack of transportation-related emissions, in densely populated regions such as New York, Delhi, and China. However, as initial panic decreased and people started venturing out, there was a rebound in greenhouse gas emissions, and traffic congestion after the CDC recommended individual transportation methods and caution against public transportation. Another area that holds cause for concern is the exponential increase in single-use plastics. The spread of the coronavirus overturned efforts to ban or restrict single-use items such as plastic straws and bags across the country. The concept of “bring your own bag” was just becoming commonplace in certain regions before the pandemic tore those practices down. Single-use plastics came back in full force as restaurant takeout and e-commerce gained dominance. This change was justified with the narrative that single-use items facilitate safer public health practices, although studies have shown the virus lasts just as long on plastic as it does on steel or other materials. Discarded gloves, masks, and bags are now seen littering the sides of streets in some communities, washing up on our shores, and are harming wildlife in ocean regions. With the pandemic in the limelight, the existing threat of climate change has been thrown to the periphery, and if not addressed as a collective issue soon, we will soon see again the dangers of not acting on these warnings.
During the Paris Agreement in 2015, the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) warned global leaders that the rise of global temperatures would cause irreversible climate change and natural catastrophes. The IPCC proposed a carbon budget to curb emissions and halt global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels by 2030. (). However, the world became a standstill when countries administered stay-at-home orders worldwide due to COVID-19 in March. Domestic and international travel reduced significantly and so abruptly that emissions from ground transportation and global aviation decreased by 17.8 % and 46.7% respectively during the first seven months of 2020 compared to 2019. (1) Global emissions this year are estimated to drop by 4-7% due to reduced mobility and activity from COVID-19 lockdowns (2). However, it has been observed in countries easing lockdown restrictions that transportation emissions have already begun rebounding. In China, transportation emissions decreased dramatically by 53.8% in February 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. This emission deficit has progressively reduced as restrictions loosened; by July 2020, transportation emissions in China decreased by only 4.2% compared to 2019 levels. (3) Oksana Tarasova, WMO Chief of Atmospheric and Environment Research Division, likened the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to a tap filling up a bathtub with more and more water. Consequences from the COVID-19 lockdowns have only temporarily reduced the flow of the water, but the only true solution is to turn off the tap. Therefore, instead of reducing mobility, which COVID-19 lockdowns have accomplished, world leaders need to turn to sustainable solutions to reduce energy consumption, such as transitioning to solar energy sources and adopting the use of electric vehicles (4).
COVID-19 has dramatically altered our use of single-use plastics. People are increasingly utilizing plastic gloves and masks to protect themselves, businesses are increasingly using plastic shopping bags to protect their customers, and consumers are receiving more plastic-wrapped packages at their doorsteps to protect and satisfy their instinct for consumerism. However, our increasing consumption of single-use plastics is problematic. With most plastics not being biodegradable or readily recycled, more plastic is being discarded and is entering the environment due to COVID-19. It is now a common sight to see “discarded gloves and masks … littering streets and parks, and personal protective gear … washing up on beaches around the world.” These plastics present two problems, one on land and one in the sea. On land, we face an ever-increasing amount of plastic in landfills, cities, and the wilderness. These plastics will slowly decompose and will gradually fill our world. In the ocean, a similar problem arises: when plastic enters the water, it becomes saturated and descends to the bottom of the sea, where it can remain indefinitely. There, it presents a danger to sea life, as it can entangle, poison, or suffocate ocean wildlife. Therefore, by increasing our consumption of single-use plastics, we have caused more harm to our environment and have set ourselves on a destructive path that will be difficult to remedy.
All in all, the Covid-19 pandemic has greatly impacted society and our planet. It has changed the way we live, which had rippling effects on many different things, especially climate change. Although climate change has been a persistent factor in our lives, it has been worsened by the rebound in personal transportation methods, rather than carpooling and public transit, and the extreme increase in single-use plastic wares, like gloves, masks, takeout containers, utensils, and plastic bags. With the pandemic garnering most of the spotlight right now, years of positive actions and legislature against climate change have been discarded. Although it is of the utmost importance to keep the community safe from Covid-19, we must also make sure that we still are fighting to combat climate change before its detrimental effects are irreversible.