Coronavirus emissions drop and post-pandemic work

[golfcart]

Any thoughts on how this virus and the response will impact emissions in the present and future?

I have to think that U.S. and global greenhouse gas (and other) emissions will drop drastically during these lock downs. It'll be an interesting test to see just how much. I imagine climate activists will be watching closely as well as folks concerned with air quality, traffic deaths, and other related issues.

After the pandemic has passed, I would think that many businesses continue to allow workers to telecommute and decide to cut down on office space. Especially those who demonstrated good productivity and the ability to effectively use tools like Microsoft Teams etc... We also may find that many college students find that online courses are sufficient and choose not to pay exorbitant room and board fees going forward. Travel, particularly international travel, will probably take a hit for a while.

It is just interesting to think about how much routines could change after this... or if things will quickly return to how they were. I really don't know. What do y'all think?

 

[BluestarE3]

In the aftermath of 9/11, flights were temporarily suspended in the US and there was a dramatic improvement in air quality during that period. Recent satellite photos show similar improvements over China. The cynic in me tells me that things will just pick up where they left off once the pandemic has subsided and the bans lifted. As a society, we seem to have a short memory.

Industrial and most service jobs don't lend themselves to working from home. However, I agree that once people and companies learn from this period of isolation that there are many jobs that can be performed remotely, they may remain that way. In addition to reducing pollution, this will help improve quality of life for many by reducing the mind-numbing hours spent in gridlocked traffic every day and the corresponding lost productivity and lost personal time. So, the optimist in me says that seismic changes in the way we work and interact have happened throughout human history and what we learn from this event may put us on the cusp of yet another shift.

The question is how much permanent change we'll see and how significant of an impact this will have long-term.

 

[LCR1]

I find it a little funny that people are chastising Tesla for trying to stay open as an essential business spouting claims that X people will die or whatever if they do. Those same people weeks ago were the ones who would exclaim how many lives Tesla is saving because of the human and healthcare cost related to pollution. So which is it, is Tesla saving lives with reduced pollution or is was that all just fancy talk to fondle your cult leaders?

 

[mswlogo]

I was thinking the same thing. But perhaps it will show how much of a difference we can make.
And perhaps how much less materialistic we might be when we come out of this.

Can't help think that mother nature is giving us a huge wake up call.