Patrick Semansky/AP Photo
The National Mall in Washington is seen nearly deserted, on March 25, 2020, as residents have been urged to stay home to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Cleared of leisure boats and commercial traffic, oceans and interior waterways now teem with animals rarely seen so close to shore. Manta rays swim near Florida beaches; orcas breach in shipping lanes in Vancouver; and more dolphins glide off Cape Fear. In Los Angeles, skies are freer of aircraft, and falcons and hawks soar and nest in parks.
Animals flourish as humans face disaster.
Fifty years ago, Earth Day originated in a bipartisan quest partly intended to steer the zeal of young Vietnam War protesters into fighting air and water pollution. In recent years, the climate crisis superseded almost every other environmental concern—until the coronavirus pandemic erupted. Asked about the virus outbreak in early April, Pope Francis noted:
There is an expression in Spanish: “God always forgives, we forgive sometimes, but nature never forgives.” We did not respond to the partial catastrophes. Who now speaks of the fires in Australia, or remembers that 18 months ago a boat could cross the North Pole because the glaciers had all melted? I don’t know if these are the revenge of nature, but they are certainly nature’s responses.
Nature demands changes, but it’s by no means clear that Americans are ready to change how we travel or what we eat. Rather, the country is fixated on the unattainable: a pre-corona normal that cannot be recaptured. President Trump and his cronies are not just doubling down on calls to reopen the economy, but also, while few pay attention, taking the opportunity to implement disastrous environmental policies.
Environmental advocates pushed for a menu of green measures in the first CARES Act stimulus bill, including the funding of new jobs in the renewable-energy sector; investing in solar and other clean technologies; and cutting emissions to temper the climate crisis. After the sausage was made, there was virtually nothing for climate stalwarts to celebrate: no more tax credits for wind and solar industries; no provisions requiring the airlines to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, Republicans accused Democrats of overreaching during the pandemic.
On the other hand, oil and gas industry titans have demanded relief in the wake of worldwide stay-at-home orders that forced demand to crater. On Tuesday, they succeeded, as the president announced his plan to steer dollars to them.
Indeed, with the connivance of the oil and gas industry, the Trump administration set aside a number of Environmental Protection Agency safety standards and enforcement mechanisms. Companies can avoid fines if they link staff shortages that prevent pollution monitoring and related activities to the coronavirus. A recent Associated Press report found that air pollutants in African American and Latino neighborhoods near Houston’s petrochemical plants have jumped more than 60 percent since the rollbacks went into force last month.
So Earth Day 2020 is at once pristine and deadly. As daunting and painful as the pandemic challenge surely is, the continuation of life on Earth depends on putting fossil fuel industries on a path to extinction. The future cannot be yoked to pre-corona economic privileges enjoyed by a small cohort of oil-patch plutocrats and their investors who promise jobs destined to disappear.
Who knows? A green mind shift may just hinge on pandemic memories of falcons and hawks soaring through clear skies as the Earth sends another signal that this is probably the last chance humans have to save themselves.
