A one-month lock down to heal the Earth! - Day #11 (4 April 2020) - 21 day #Covid19 Lock down

Day #11 (4 April 2020)

A one-month lock down to heal the Earth!

Let’s get this straight. Before the Virus started infecting people and killing them in really large numbers, most leaders, especially the muscular chauvinist ones – the likes of Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro and even Boris Johnson, were in denial, and their denial got so dangerous, that their countries and their people, stand deathly compromised. They are facing the worst collapse ever. And these are the same type of leaders, whose denial of the climate crisis is stalling the world’s response to it. This time, the future of these leaders, and many others for that matter, are itself at stake – for it will not be decided on how much money they made for their country, but how many people they let die!

There is no doubt that the climate and the ecological crisis is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced. The only difference that this has with the Covid19 crisis is that the latter has come fast, hit hard, and demanded immediate, drastic action. Have we not been warned about these? There are hundreds of scientific papers, reports, news articles, lectures, videos, films, books, courses, social media messages, trolls and even street shout outs, and there has been thousands of climate scientists, life scientists, earth scientists, ecologists, environmentalists, naturalists, social scientists, activists, artists, political leaders, development thinkers, writers, speakers, and off late, young boys and girls – the millennials and the Gen-Z activist children, who have even taken to the streets, shouting above their voice, and to the fake-deaf, pushing into their stony faces, block lettered placards, with messages on the impending catastrophe and the inanity of their inaction. And above all, there has been so many incidents (events, they say), of ecological disasters, collapse of ecosystems, extinction of species in hundreds of thousands, and even viruses jumping out of their host birds, animals and ecosystems to move into both domesticated animals and human beings, and taking their lives; and there are uncountable number of events of climate impact, all over the world, killing people in huge numbers and destroying property worth billions. Yet, the world, has largely been in denial!

Now, all of a sudden, we are acting.

Nations have gone on a lock down, with various degrees of it, depending on how each of the leaderships perceive the issue, and how much they felt they could compromise on the economy. But, as the crisis became deadly, and none of their defence mechanisms nor health systems could stop the crisis, nations strengthened their lock down, with some of them even declaring a state of emergency, invoking such draconian laws, that in other times, would have evoked wide criticism.

Airports are shut down and airlines are grounded. Rail and roadways are closed. Offices, businesses and industry have all stopped operations, and those who can “Work from Home” are encouraged to do so. All travel, except those for essential services and emergencies, are stopped. All celebrations, festivals, conferences, meetings, everything that brought people together in a crowd are banned or cancelled. People are asked to “Stay at Home”, and “Break the Chain” of the spread of the virus. People are asked to keep a “social distance”; they meant physical distance, with a strict clamp down of all socialising.

It’s almost a month since we did this in varying degrees of impact.

Experts are now documenting the effect of this lock down on the environment and so also the effect it could have on emissions and climate. They say that just two weeks of a lock down have wiped out a quarter of China’s emissions of damaging greenhouse gases and air pollution is down because of decreased driving and less coal burning. And the reduced pollution is likely to have saved the lives of 4,000 children under the age of 5 and 73,000 adults over the age of 70. In a very important observation from some top Climate scientists “The corona virus pandemic could mean this year’s world CO2 pollution output falls by the largest amount in over 70 years”. Rob Jackson, chair of the Global Carbon Project, which produces widely watched annual emissions estimates, said carbon dioxide output could fall by more than 5 per cent year-on-year – the first dip since a 1.4 per cent reduction after the 2008 financial crisis. (https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/coronavirus-air-pollution-carbon-dioxide-impact-environment-climate-crisis-a9446031.html ).

But they also warn that this short-lived benefit will reverse and we will see it going back to “normal”, once the lock downs are over and the climate-destructive activities of ours are back. China, for instance, saw its emissions falling by 25% during the lock down and now as life limps back to normal, emissions are also returning back.

Here, I am reminded of a poster that is making the rounds in social media. It’s a quote from the Gen-Z climate activist, Greta Thunberg, and it says “There is a lot of talk about returning to ‘normal’ after the COVID19 outbreak. But normal was a crisis”. In a conversation on New Scientist’s she says, “If one virus can wipe out the entire economy in a matter of weeks and shut down societies, then that is a proof that our societies are not very resilient. It also shows that once we are in an emergency, we can act and we can change our behaviour quickly”. ( https://www.newscientist.com/article/2238831-greta-we-must-fight-the-climate-crisis-and-pandemic-simultaneously/#ixzz6IiSxWWlf )

We, as human kind, have demonstrated to ourselves that swift, timely and even drastic measures can be implemented if we recognise the urgency of the crisis, and we are backed by a political will. But this kind of action, which the climate crisis also demands is yet to be even thought off. One thing this pandemic also proves is that delays are deadly and costly. It’s also clear that we do not have a future, without more of such crises. We risk our life on this planet, while governments continue to believe in the business as usual. The “normal” has to be broken, as one of our ecologist friend said “Break the Habit” has to follow the “Break the Chain” campaign! Our idea of what is “normal” has to change. Our idea of what is “investment” has to change. Our idea of “economic growth” has also to be replaced with a different compass, a more social, ecological, saner one. When this pandemic passes, can we become a culture that is more conscious of our planet?

Usha, a companion in the environmental movement here, puts forward an idea, worth investing our thoughts on. She says, “Atleast, we should have a one-month “Lock down” and “Stay at Home”, every year, as a world-wide voluntary act of the human species, for the sake of the Earth”. Now, we know this is possible and effective. It could in the long term influence earth-friendly behaviour. While the COVID19 lock down was drastic action, this one for the Earth can be a healing, peaceful one. It’s healing for the earth, for climate, for all species on earth and healing time for ourselves! If we can do this to stop a Virus, why not to stop Climate Change!