The Pandemic: a Boon or a Bane?
By Donna T. Darantinao
HAPI Scholars | HAPI Dumaguete
Just when climate change activists and environmentalists started to raise their voices to save a ‘deteriorating planet’ back in 2020, the pandemic struck and halted the daily activities we had grown accustomed to.
While a good chunk of the Filipino workforce was able to work from home, business operations had to close and millions were left unemployed. The pandemic also affected education in major ways, one particular instance being the shift to online, virtual, and remote classes (a privilege not given to everyone, mind you). It also pushed governments to come up with drastic measures and rushed plans that sought to provide for the citizens of their respective nations, in hopes that no one would be left hungry or destitute.
As all of these were occurring, skies were observed to be bluer and streets were viewed as cleaner than they were when economies were still thriving, especially in highly urbanized and industrialized areas. According to an April 2020 article by KCRW titled “Coronavirus pandemic offers lessons to combat climate change,” Los Angeles had been recognized as the smoggiest city in the United States for 19 years. It used to be that only during the clearest of days could one see past the city’s smog but due to the pandemic, the skyline was clear. With fewer cars on the road and fewer emissions during quarantine, this was inevitable but a delight nonetheless.
In a bit of irony, some people saw the pandemic as a silver lining for nature and animal welfare. As a CGTN article asserted, environmental scientists observed that the global response to the pandemic may be able to cause carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to fall by about 8 percent, the sharpest drop yet during modern times. Nevertheless, climate scientists assert that it is still too early to conclude the flattening of the global warming curve since high CO2 levels can only hit a plateau once the carbon sinks of the earth can able to absorb and eliminate the toxic emissions.
The pandemic had challenged us to the extreme, especially with how we utilize the earth’s natural resources. This is still not a guarantee of environmental repair and rejuvenation, of course, as that would include more than the incorporation of lifestyles that would only leave minimal carbon footprints on the world’s ecological system.
Hopefully, though, this would allow nations that are highly industrialized to act responsibly when it comes to utilizing natural resources. After all, our species is still interdependent with the earth’s ecological systems; abusing the environment is just counter-productive at this point.
