Why We Need Climate Action Now

Written by: Leela H.

The reality of climate change is that devastating and sometimes irreversible decades-long damage has already been done all over the world. Throughout the last few months, wildfires have ravaged California, there have been historic flooding and heatwaves in cities throughout Europe, Africa, and the Indian subcontinent. Most shockingly, last week Greenland underwent a heatwave, and experts warn that the summer snow was insufficient in maintaining the land’s integrity. This is important for several reasons, but primarily because Greenland annually contributes around 30% of the melted ice that causes global rising sea levels. In fact, climate expert Dr. Talaas, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization reaffirmed, “it’s more urgent than ever to proceed with (climate change) mitigation.” It is for this reason that I believe world leaders should use Covid-19 quarantine lockdowns to implement green policies and follow the “Build Back Better” movement.

There has been an unmistakable increase in government authority and power since the implementation of lockdowns from tracking apps to curfews to travel bans. In addition to that, because of the lockdowns occurring all over the world, as countries experience a second wave and many developing nations still go through their first wave, there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of people willing and able to use public transportation or fly between states and/or countries. Aviation has experienced a 75% drop in emissions this year, and that alone supplies 3% of total emissions annually. While there was a daily decline of 6 megatonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from public transportation and car travel from March to June. China alone put out an estimated ¼ fewer emissions than usual in February. Since the beginning of the lockdowns this year from March to April there has been a decrease of 8% of global gas emissions, or a 2.6 billion tonnes decrease in carbon emissions. However, experts from Tsinghua University warn that to make any significant change in global warming there would have to be a decrease in global emissions of at least 20%, which would be the equivalent of living every year in lockdown. However, the data is clear that the human world cannot sustain further lockdowns, economically or mentally, which begs the question of what governments can do to maintain similar decreases in emissions without lockdown.

The answer is to use some of their newfound and pre-existing power to implement green policies and projects now. One country that has done phenomenally in this regard is France. This week as part of a 100 billion euro expansionary policy, France allocated 30 billion to green projects that aim to support renewable energy sources built in France. During the first lockdown, they raised the tax on flights between France and other European countries, which would effectively require citizens to use the high-speed trains that require significantly less gas and emit less CO2. Similar policies should be implemented across Europe and the rest of the world. It is now more important than ever to effectively reduce the potential damage caused by climate change. And communities that have been faced with the risk of the Coronavirus and natural disasters have had to face terrible adversity.

Moreover, this has also been a historically successful plan. During the Great Depression from 1929-1933, US President Franklin Roosevelt created several projects, which would stimulate the economy by employing thousands of people to conserve the forests of America. There is a precedence for governments starting to make climate-conscious policies that require paid labor and help the long-term interests of everyone on the planet.

In essence, climate change not only is happening but will only continue to get exponentially worse. This means that we need to take immediate action, and it just so happens that the coronavirus has created a convenient head start. The progress that has been made needs to continue, and a great avenue for continuity in that regard is government interventionist policies.

Edited by: Happy J.

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Cited Works:

Borunda, Alejandra. “Plunge in Carbon Emissions from Lockdowns Will Not Slow Climate Change.” CO2 Emissions Declines from Lockdowns Will Not Solve the Climate Crisis, 20 May 2020, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/05/plunge-in-carbon-emissions-lockdowns-will-not-slow-climate-change/.

“France in Huge Coronavirus Recovery Plan Focusing on Green Energy.” BBC News, BBC, 3 Sept. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/business-54009642.

Harrabin, Roger. “Climate Change: Could the Coronavirus Crisis Spur a Green Recovery?” BBC News, BBC, 6 May 2020, www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52488134.

Fountain, Henry. “Climate Change Is Accelerating, Bringing World 'Dangerously Close' to Irreversible Change.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Dec. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/climate/climate-change-acceleration.html.

Harrabin, Roger. “Climate Change: Could the Coronavirus Crisis Spur a Green Recovery?” BBC News, BBC, 6 May 2020, www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52488134.