More than a quarter of the world is in some sort of lockdown as a measure to curtail the spread of Covid-19. This pandemic has come in the backdrop of another evident global crisis, a much slower one with even higher risks – climate change.
The unevenly distributed risks of both the pandemic and climate change will be felt hardest by the most vulnerable groups of the society. When the Prime Minister announced a 21-day lockdown, all of us were quick in sweeping supermarket shelves for the upcoming ‘apocalypse’, hoarding our kitchen cabinets with packaged foods and some of our favourite snacks and drinks. The rupture caused by the lockdown has confined us to our homes and urged most of us to engage in tasks such as cleaning our homes, cooking food, and decluttering our cupboards.
After three days of the lockdown, I had a gut-wrenching reality check while clearing out the trash. I was shocked by the amount of plastic waste I had generated in the past three days. Struck by the images of heaps of plastic waste in garbage dumps, animals eating plastic bags, and a bird whose beak was trapped shut by a plastic ring, I was confronted with moral questions relevant for today’s generation.
This is a time for all of us to reflect upon the impact of our actions on the environment. While the solution to the pandemic requires all of us to sit back and ensure social distancing, the solution to climate change requires all of us to be proactive and take individual actions to reduce our carbon footprint.
With the pandemic looming over our heads, economic activity has come to a standstill across the world. In the short-term, the response to the pandemic seems to have a positive impact on the emission levels across the world. However, amidst the economic downturn around the world, the future of the battle against climate change seems grim. In efforts to recoup industrial activity to propel economic growth, there will be a lack of political will and availability of financial resources to continue the fight against climate change.
Social media is bustling with images of clearer skies and nature rebounding in our absence. However, let us not live in an illusion. The distorted reality is not what life is going to be like once things return to normalcy unless we make a meaningful shift towards sustainable living.
Even though radical policy intervention is the only way to decarbonise the atmosphere, we must not lose sight of conscious consumption as a measure to thwart the risk of climate change.
Robert H Frank, a professor of economics at Cornell University argues that “behavioural contagion” — spreading of ideas and behaviours through populations like infectious diseases, can alter our lifestyle choices and have a positive impact on the environment. Those who have the economic resources must demonstrate eco-consciousness within the confines of our homes.
Small changes in individual habits along the lines of 3R’s- reuse, reduce and re-cycle such as carrying paper or cloth bags when we step out to buy essential commodities, using degradable waste disposal bags, rationing water consumption, switching off lights when not in use and focusing on healthy eating instead of purchasing junk food items are some ways in which all of us can make a difference.
During the lockdown, we must hold ‘Earth hour’ every week encouraging households to turn off non-essential lights and gadgets, for one hour. The combined effect of all these activities would not only have a positive impact on the environment but it would also reduce the strain on the overburdened infrastructural capacities of the government. By sharing our climate-friendly initiatives on social media, we can increase peer influence to stimulate meaningful change.
We must take the correct lessons from this pandemic. The act of staying home to prevent the spread of the virus is a reflection of social cohesion and community will. We must also use this community will to act as climate advocates and become more environmentally conscious. All change begins with individual action, and each step, no matter how small, affects the entire planet.
Comments
0 comment