ALMOST everyone has felt at least some yearning for a return to “normality”. The economic, social and mental costs of lockdown have been high, alongside the terrible toll of lives cut short.
Around the world, countries are, quite naturally, assessing how they can allow their citizens to resume some of their former freedoms, and individuals are asking how they can best keep themselves and others safe as restrictions are eased (see “At work, school and seeing friends: How to lower your coronavirus risk”). What is clear, however, is that with no immediate prospect of an effective vaccine, the new “normal” won’t be the old one.
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An important question now is: is that entirely a bad thing, or can something positive be wrung from this grim situation?
Over relatively few decades, a paradigm of unbridled consumption in richer economies, with little regard for longer-term consequences, has established itself as a global aspirational norm. That has taken a shocking toll on our planet, in terms of any environmental measure you choose to consider, be it pollution, biodiversity or, of course, climate change.
“Covid-19 has given us a glimpse of a world in which systems can be torn up, and ways of life radically altered”
Then came covid-19. Suddenly, once clogged motorways stood empty and the sight of a plane overhead became something worth remarking on.
Pollution and carbon emissions, unsurprisingly, have for now gone down (see “Coronavirus set to cause biggest emissions fall since second world war”) – although we must be realistic that this will have little if any long-term effect on global warming.
The situation hasn’t been universally good for nature: poaching, for example, has become easier (see “How the coronavirus pandemic is affecting wildlife and conservation”).
But covid-19 has given us a glimpse of a world in which systems can be torn up, and ways of life radically altered, when the political will is there.
Many environmentalists now dare to hope that this glimpse of rapid and radical global action could be a catalyst for desperately needed change. As Petteri Taalas, head of the World Meteorological Organization, tells us this week (see “Climate chief: Coronavirus shows us we can beat global warming”), this emergency really could be a turning point in our attitudes towards the looming climate emergency – if we choose to make it happen.
