The economic slowdown caused by the reductions in aviation industries has led to stark drops in carbon emissions. Photo by Vernon Yuen/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Tipping Point covers environmental justice stories about and, where possible, written by people in the communities experiencing the stark reality of our changing planet.
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Already, China is planning to relax environmental rules to allow factories idled during the epidemic to get back up to speed, which will actually make China’s air pollution much worse.Beyond all of that, the coronavirus is expected to kill countless numbers of people. Anything that causes human death is counterintuitive to the climate justice movement.Instead of celebrating these drops in emissions, we should all take this moment to consider making some of these measures permanent: reduce air travel, telecommute, have basic human rights like housing, healthcare, and food provided by the state. Not only will they result in long-term emissions reduction, but they will bring greater equity to all people. And that is the goal of climate justice: humans collaborating to make large-scale change to save one other.
Maggie Clifford, a PhD student in climate literacy and communications at American University in Washington, D.C., said the way people are coming together to help at-risk populations gives her hope."Radical rapid change on a global scale is possible"
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For the past few weeks, commuting has been reduced by allowing people to work from home, and our dependence on delivery services like Amazon lessened by helping out homebound neighbours with shopping and errands. These radical changes will not only help the climate crisis, but will improve the lives of people everywhere.The World Health Organization’s director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that COVID-19 is the “defining global health crisis of our time.” The climate crisis, which will also lead to more catastrophic infectious diseases, is also the crisis of our time. Our response to COVID-19—how we treat each other, how we advocate for each other, how we come together to make systemic change—will not only determine how many lives we save from the coronavirus, but also how many lives we save from the crises yet to come.Nylah Burton is a writer based in Washington D.C., who covers mental health, climate, and race. Follow her on Twitter.Have a story for Tipping Point? Email TippingPoint@vice.com