This article looks at the positive and negative effects of COVID-19 on the climate crisis. One of the negative effects is the delay of the COP26, a follow up to the Paris Climate Accord in 2015. If this was to happen, then countries might have put climate change goals and initiatives into their COVID relief strategies. However, without Climate Change fresh in people’s minds, this most likely will not happen. Global negotiations for new initiatives to protect the planet and wildlife, and higher standards regarding climate change were also postponed. With all eyes on COVID, illegal miners and loggers were able to deforest 464 square miles of the Amazon – the Amazon absorbed 2 billion tons of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere. Many policies that were going to go into effect regarding emissions – such as airplane emissions caps – might not go into effect, and many companies are fighting against it as they regain money lost from the pandemic. Politicians such as President Trump and giving leeway on environmental standards with projects in an attempt to speed up the economic recovery process. The Obama Foundation gave away large amounts of money to projects that would combat the environmental changes that will come with climate change. However, the projects that won, broke ground right before COVID hit, and may not be able to spend all their allotted money by the end date. Without an extension from congress, the projects will remain unfinished. Due to COVID, many jobs in renewable energy were lost – installation jobs were lost as people no longer were buying renewable energy. Due to an 8% decrease in CO2 emissions, scientists have a rare opportunity to test how the earth reacts to this, and with the goal of decreasing emissions, this is a unique opportunity to queue into how the earth will react. Ironically, it is also because of COVID that scientists cannot perform these tests. Forced to use only/mostly take-outs, restaurants are using an unusually high amount of plastics. But they are not alone, from gloves, masks, etc, people are using an amount of plastic that is much higher than previously seen. Due to social distancing measures, there are more car emissions, as people no longer want to take public transportation, and many people started to ride alone rather than together. COVID has also scared a third of Americans into thinking about moving from cities into suburbs. People have also used less resources in the kitchen as they cook for themselves and use less meat as the prices has rose.
