My apologies for being insensitive to those impacted by the virus. Apologies to the patients, the families of patients, the healthcare workers, the unemployed, the under-employed, the people who are putting themselves at risk: supermarket workers, transit workers…
Its true that I’m a privileged person in terms of race, socio-economic status, so I do apologize for the insensitivity.
That being said…
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This new world that we live in is a healthier world.
There is less CO2 emission, which is important for climate change.
The air is cleaner. The water is cleaner. Less noise pollution, too.
Due to less vehicular traffic. Less airplane traffic. Less cruise ship traffic.
And there is less crime. Less traffic accidents.
As far as climate change, for decades we have been advocating accords like the Paris Climate Change Accord. And there have been proposals like the Green Jobs plan. Democrats have slogans like “We can have jobs AND we can reduce global warming”.
I think this is somewhat true and certainly there is much benefit to Paris Climate Change Accords and Green Jobs. But the true way to reduce global warming is what you are seeing now- a massive decrease in human industrialized activity.
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Everyone I know says how weird this new world is. When can we get back to life as normal. When can we get back to work?
But let me pose the question: should we get back to life as normal? Should we get back to work as normal?
I read that 30% of workers in USA are tech workers that can work remotely. OK, maybe those workers should continue to work remotely. Imagine a 30% reduction in traffic, a 30% reduction in commuters that are straining our transportation infrastructure.
And imagine more virtual meetings, less business travel.
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Right now I have my window open. There’s no rush of traffic. I can hear a couple birds chirping. Its unusual. Maybe it should be the new normal.