Earth Day at 50: Coronavirus is a Wake-up Call about Climate Change
The United States—and indeed the rest of the world—was unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic and we have been racing to meet this unprecedented challenge. Our lives, businesses and finances have been impacted in significant ways.
On this 50th anniversary of Earth Day, there’s an opportunity to learn from the coronavirus crisis—and to take action on climate change. The silver lining to coronavirus, albeit at a tremendous health and financial cost, is that country lockdowns improved air quality in many countries, including India, China and Italy. NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) satellites show that coronavirus lockdowns in China and Italy reduced air pollution and lowered nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels—in China by as much as 30%. See NASA China Satellite Photos and ESA Italy Satellite Video. With Italy under lockdown, the water in Venice's canals has become much clearer, with small fish visible swimming underwater. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/venice-canals-clear-water-scli-intl/index.html
When dangers like coronavirus — and climate change—grow exponentially, things don’t seem too bad, until they are catastrophic. Around the world, we are already seeing climate change impacts scientists predicted—from accelerated sea level rise to extreme heat waves, to devastating storms and wildfires, and melting glaciers.
If we don’t take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, higher temperatures and sea level rise will render areas of our planet unlivable by 2100. By 2050 the annual area burned by wildfires in the Western U.S. could increase two to six times. Between 2030 and 2050, the WHO has stated climate change is predicted to cause 250,000 deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress.
Let’s hope we learn from this unprecedented moment in history and rebuild a green economy that focuses on green infrastructure, incentivizes renewable energy, and applies sustainability-linked conditions to stimulus payouts. It makes sense to create jobs and help the economy and at the same time help our planet. The global COVID-19 outbreak shows that governments have the ability to take urgent and radical action to contain crises. We need to make sure they address climate change with the same urgency. There is no Plan B. Scientists may develop a vaccine to fight coronavirus—let’s hope so. But there will never be a vaccine to save our planet. This is a wake-up call for America and the world—about how we deal with both the coronavirus pandemic and climate change.