Giving Compass' Take:

• Restrictive stay-at-home policies during COVID-19 have brought about healthier changes to our environment. They are slowly moving us toward low-a carbon economy, but only if the changes can have a lasting impact. 

• How can we support the long-term implications of these changes after the pandemic subsides? 

• Learn why small-scale low carbon tech might be more successful that larger projects. 

The global crisis we are currently going through has shown how radically societies, companies and individuals were able to respond to an immediate threat when their health was endangered. Consequently, western countries were limiting the virus impact while several nations in Asia were able to flatten the curve of the pandemic in a matter of weeks.

In a very short amount of time this crisis has taught us that when fear is triggered, our societies are able to muster resources and organize to ensure things go back to normal as soon as possible.

As a result of strict policies all around the world, more than 4 billion people are currently locked down globally, more than half the world population. One of the most obvious consequences of such drastic policies was the way nature went back to cities, in every continent. City noise has dropped, we can hear birds, animals in zoos reproduce more and we see wild animals back in cities such as a puma in Santiago, Chile. We have also witnessed the drop in pollution in China, in Europe or in the USA. Even India’s infamous smog around Himalaya has disappeared!

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, global greenhouse gas emissions need to fall by 7.6% each year over the next 10 years. How could this crisis push us further toward this target?

We will tell you why we think so.

  1. Politicians are finally starting to listen to scientists
  2. Our financial resources are (almost) limitless
  3. Changes might remain after the crisis
  4. What kind of world can we expect after the crisis ? Beware of Black swans

Read the full article about moving toward a low-carbon economy by Brice Degeyter at Causeartist.