By Harneet Kaur March 2022
In the last couple of years, the international community has really hustled to put climate change at the forefront of global emergencies. As climate change activists and scientists highlight how loss of biodiversity increases the transmission of infectious diseases, the Coronavirus pandemic pushed world leaders and international organizations to sell the fight against the Coronavirus as inseparable from achieving the sustainable development goals. In a way, it is a pivotal turning point for human society as the international community transforms the mindset of global citizens in relation to their responsibility for taking care of the planet, its resources, and its inhabitants. It seems reassuring; hopeful even with the devastating amount of destruction humans have contributed to cause climate change. There’s just one problem: steps towards sustainability during the pandemic are at odds with COVID-19 prevention measures.
One of my fondest memories as an American studying abroad in Geneva, Switzerland is going into Starbucks for the first time, ordering a hot chocolate, and being served in a real cup - not a disposable one! As an American living in Europe for the first time this was eye-opening. Why didn’t we do this in the U.S.A.? It seems so simple. It concerned me that in most places you were served in a disposable cup even when you ordered in. One of things I planned on advocating in the United States when I came back was a sustainable café culture since Americans basically run on coffee and chains like Starbucks contribute so much to the carbon footprint and global waste. Unfortunately, my simple idea for sustainable business conduct was put to halt by the COVID-19 prevention measures. Natural food chains and stores that were making small changes to be sustainable, such as Whole Foods, had to go back on their initiatives in order to stop the spread of COVID-19. These places now had signs up reading, “Due to COVID-19, we are not serving in reusable cups until further notice”. Other small efforts made by cities after years of fighting for policy change, such as replacing plastic bags with reusable shopping bags, have gone in vain now as stores put up signs announcing, “Reusable shopping bags temporarily banned”. Everyday efforts to protect our planet have come to a standstill while international leaders talk about sustainable development on the global stage. Moreover, sustainable development is stressed to be necessary to prevent future pandemics like the current one we are in. But ironically, infection control is in conflict with the sustainable development goals, as described above.
One doesn’t need to dig deep to find the inconsistency between world leaders making agreements on climate action and in infection control measures. The fundamental tool to fight the virus, the surgical mask, is contributing exceedingly to the pandemic pollution. “Around the world, 129 billion are used every single month, and three million are thrown out every single minute. Most are made of layers of plastic microfibers. It’s creating a new kind of plastic pollution, contaminating waterways and hurting wildlife” (Sy, 2021). If you are like me, then you avoid looking up such statistics to escape the rush of anxiety that comes with thinking about how every second you are contributing to the destruction of our planet and its ecosystems. Each time I comply with a COVID-19 safety measure, I face an inner-struggle as I try to justify why it’s ok for me to waste and pollute. But is it really ok? Are we doomed because the human health and the human hygiene needs disagree with the needs of the planet? Can we only choose one – the health of the planet or the health of the human population? Scientists argue that the health of the planet and the human health are interconnected, however our current practices and infection control policies don’t reflect this fact. I don’t even want to get into the industry of hand sanitizers.
Infection control requires special measures. We know that in order for hospitals to do their job right and safely, they have to put hygiene over preventing waste. The question then comes to how will national and international leaders commit to policies fostering sustainable development and fighting climate change in the middle of the pandemic? Common citizens, like myself, will become pessimistic of achieving the sustainable development goals when every day they unwillingly have to contribute to the pandemic pollution in order to keep everyone safe and to eventually end the pandemic. For the most part, when world leaders meet to discuss climate change, they are problem-solving from the top down approach – how to cut industrial carbon emissions, eliminating fossil fuels, etc. While these are all important steps that need to be taken globally in urgency, focus also needs to be given to how individual communities will fight the pandemic and at the same time be participants of sustainable development goals at the local level. Perhaps this requires an urgent need for governments to allocate funds to research and development in health equipment that both prevents infection and is sustainable. Or maybe the answer is simply that human hygiene and human health requires a certain level of unpreventable waste, therefore waste in other categories must be eliminated in order for healthcare waste to not have a negative impact on the environment. It seems like scientists, healthcare specialists, researchers, politicians, and international governmental organizations need to discuss major re-budgeting of industries and the redistribution of resources at international sustainable development talks to facilitate micro-level environmental protection. Whatever the solution to solve the current sustainable development-pandemic prevention conflict of interest awaits, one thing is for certain: if common citizens see inconsistency in policies guiding their everyday actions and the position of their government leaders on sustainable development, citizens will lose faith in their governments and in the sustainable development goals themselves. This is especially true for millennials for whom sustainable development and fighting climate change are of great importance. The COVID-19 prevention versus the sustainable development goals clash not only poses an obstacle to fighting climate change, but is another risk factor for distrust in governments and the international community.
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