Even as people are now experiencing the effects of climate change, certain environmental conditions like the melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet are not well understood. To many, climate change is still an established scientific theory, of which the probability of happening is currently increasing.
The Connection Between Climate Change and COVID-19
While there is no evidence to present that the COVID-19 pandemic is linked to climate change in relation to the melting of permafrost, the health crisis presents lessons about vulnerabilities of countries to high-impact global disturbances. The pandemic had put to a test, the risk mitigating policies of every nation that mostly resulted in failures; not because of the nature of the policies but due to lack of domestic and international coordination.
While epidemiologists have warned years ago that global inter-connectedness, densely populated urban areas and destruction of wildlife habitats can increase the occurrences and risks of pandemics, the warnings fell on deaf ears, even up to now. Nonetheless, even as policymakers need to give priority to addressing the health crisis and in providing economic relief to the underprivileged sector of their respective societies, global efforts to bring down the Earth’s warming temperatures to below 2°C, should not be derailed.
Besides, the pandemic resulted into shifts in business and social activities that could further be adopted as part of climate change mitigation efforts.
Lessons Taught by the COVID-19 and Their LInks to Climate Change Actions
In formulating post-coronavirus policies, government leaders and lawmakers can turn their attention to proposing investments in technologies that can speed up the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2).
It became evident that during the lockdown periods imposed simultaneously and globally, the reduction of global travel by air had a positive effect in the Earth’s atmosphere. As the daily commute of millions of workers were temporarily put to a halt, so did the carbon emissions of the millions of land vehicles that traveled daily in multiple routes and for several times during any given day.
Businesses can adopt work-from-home arrangements to reduce the number of daily commuters. At the same time, companies can maintain and promote their virtual presence online. That being the case, there will be fewer demands for commercial buildings and housing provisions.
Lawmakers and government leaders can take cue from the events that continue to transpire as a result of the global pandemic. Unfortunately, only a handful of governments have been able to address both the COVID-19 crisis and the climate change mitigation efforts. While many leaders and lawmakers remain partisan, neither the pandemic nor the climate change actions have been effectively addressed.
