Don’t Touch Your Face: Sorry, Nature Isn’t Returning
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A herd of goats take advantage of quiet streets near Trinity Square, in Llandudno, north Wales, on March 31. Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images
On this week’s episode: Why the environmental benefits of the lockdown are fleeting at best.
As countries around the world have gone into lockdown, the air in some of the world’s most polluted cities has cleared. Global greenhouse gas emissions are predicted to drop by 8 percent this year, a drop six times larger than the previous record set in 2009. This and footage of animals roaming the streets in some cities while humans are confined indoors have sparked the online meme that nature is returning to its natural state.
But will the environmental benefits of the lockdown lead to any long-term improvements? What do the coronavirus-related shutdowns tell us about what needs to be done in the fight against climate change? And are some countries taking advantage of the lockdowns to push ahead with polluting projects?
On this week’s podcast, Don’t Touch Your Face hosts James Palmer and Amy Mackinnon are joined by Jaybee Garganera, an environmental activist in the Philippines who serves as the national coordinator of Alyansa Tigil Mina, a network of advocacy groups that campaigns against destructive mining in the country. They are also joined by Gernot Wagner, a climate economist and clinical associate professor at New York University’s environmental studies department and associated clinical professor at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
Further Reading
“Venezuela risks fueling pandemic by allowing Amazon mining, activists say,” Reuters
“Colombian death squads exploiting coronavirus lockdown to kill activists,” Guardian
“Coronavirus is driving down global carbon dioxide emissions to levels last seen 10 years ago, agency says,” Washington Post
“Five ways that Trump is undermining environmental protections under the cover of coronavirus,” Nature
About Don’t Touch Your Face: On the last day of 2019, China reported an unusual outbreak in Wuhan, a port city with a population of 11 million. Within two months, the disease would spread to almost every continent on the globe and kill thousands of people. From Foreign Policy, a podcast about the extent of the COVID-19 contagion, the threat it poses, and what countries are doing to contain it. Join FP’s James Palmer and Amy Mackinnon as they track the spread of the virus and explore what it means for people’s everyday lives. Have a coronavirus question for us to explore? Email it to donttouchyourface@foreignpolicy.com. See All Episodes
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