3 Climate Action Lessons we learned during this pandemic
For the past few weeks, we have been talking about how the world is changing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There’s been a lot of ‘’good news’’ surfing the internet about how social distancing is helping the climate change problem. According to the World Economic Forum, just in China, CO2 emissions have decreased by 25% — which is huge!
Unfortunately, this means nothing if we don’t tackle climate change during the recovery of COVID-19. Which means we have to take action!
Taking action for the climate made me think about the things we’ve learned during this pandemic about Climate Action. Because, if you think about, if we are seeing some really drastic changes for the climate that means that we are, somehow, taking action.
I think our first lesson came with Doctor Jane Goodall’s message. Protecting Wildlife Habitats is a priority.
Lesson 1: Protecting Wildlife Habitats is more important than we thought it was!
In a statement to National Geographic, Doctor Jane Goodall defended that we need to take action to protect wildlife habitats.
She goes further on to explain that, as we destroy these habitats, we force different species into proximity — not only between themselves but also with humans — exposing us and them to pathogens that can have highly unwanted effects — like COVID-19.
If this is not enough for you, a team of researchers led by Christine Kreuder Johnson of the One Health Institute at the University of California, just proved that some of the new diseases that have jumped from animals to humans can be traced back to changes in the land or wildlife hunting.
This calls for immediate action if we want to prevent future pandemics and if we want to preserve our Wildlife, according to TIME.
It is also very important that we take this topic seriously because of SDG 15 — Life on land. SDG 15, foresees the reduction of the degradation of natural habitats. So, it’s very important that we take this Lesson seriously.
Jumping to Lesson number 2, I think we need to take a look at this blog I wrote about the future of the World’s Economy. In this blog, I talk about renewable energies and the green economy and I’m 100% confident that’s lesson 2.
Lesson 2: Governments need to invest in renewable energies and the green economy!
If you don’t know who Jennifer Morgan is, she is a scientist and she works at Greenpeace.
According to her, in a recent statement to the World Economic Forum, Morgan defended that Governments should invest in sustainable and green energies.
One of the ways she says that Governments could do that, is by funding the renewable energy switch. According to her, the switch could be a great way to help the world’s decarbonization.
If you don’t know, decarbonization is the act of ‘’reducing the socioeconomic carbon inputs or the greenhouse gas emissions of CO2 or CH4’’. This has a huge impact on the greenhouse effect and, consequently, on climate change.
But, if this is not enough for you, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency, this transformation in energy production could create 42 million jobs worldwide.
Besides all of this, the switch to renewable energies represents a step forward for SDG 7 — Affordable and Clean Energy, which foresees the switch to more sustainable energy sources by 2030.
After this, I think we are ready for Lesson number 3. Lesson number 3 was given to us by the legend herself, Climate Activist Greta Thunberg. And it’s about crisis management.
Lesson 3: Governments CAN act fast in a Crisis!
In an online interview with Thomson Reuters Foundation, Greta mentions that ‘’ The Corona Virus is a terrible event… But it also shows one thing: That once we are in a crisis, we can act to do something quickly, act fast’’. And that is true.
Over the past couple of months, we have seen governments all around the world take quick action towards the Corona Virus crisis and dealing with it like pros. So, this comes to show that we are in fact prepared to deal with a crisis.
Do you know what is a big crisis that has been going on for years? Climate Change.
I think that now that we know that our governments can take serious action towards crises, it’s time we demand — while recovering from this pandemic — that they take similar bold moves towards the huge problem that is climate change.
According to a report on SDG 13- Climate Action, GreenHouse emissions keep on growing! If we don’t take serious action towards reducing these emissions, by 2030, the world’s temperature might go up from 1.5º C to 2ºC. THIS IS VERY CONCERNING!
One of the reasons why most people don’t believe that there is a problem with the climate is because they are not educated on the consequences of climate change. That needs to change, fast!
As human beings, we need to see the impact of our actions to understand how bad a situation is. That’s one of the reasons why many people can’t understand why climate change is a crisis. Because we don’t see the impact in numbers, every day.
This pandemic is helping us be more conscious about the climate and how we can change the world we live in by doing simple things, and we need to take advantage of that.
Right now, it’s very important that we spread awareness about this topic and, a great way to do that, is by sharing this blog.
Besides that, next week, on June 5th, we will be celebrating World Environment day! This is a great opportunity for you to connect even more with the environment and start taking action!
