As the world hits a coronavirus pause, will the environment take a breath?

Is human activity mainly responsible for global climate change? If so, we have just launched an unintentional worldwide experiment to see what happens when productive human activity comes to a screeching halt.

Given the downturn of economic productivity and a shelter-in-place reality for much of the world’s population, the negative effects are likely to outweigh anything positive. As we struggle to find any silver lining in the crisis, we might look to the dramatic reduction of belching factory smokestacks and fuming exhaust pipes. Mother Earth might suddenly and unexpectedly get a much needed and well-deserved rest.

All kinds of bad are happening as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. The volatile stock market eats up 401(k) account balances. Jobs are lost. Social inequality is broadly exposed. Hospital beds are filled. People are dying.

What’s worse is that we are only beginning to feel the painful and lethal effects of this pandemic. There is no way to sugarcoat this.

During this holiest of holiday seasons, however, we are told to look for redemption and the resurrection of hope. To count our blessings. To remember that love is the basis of our humanity, and that the Earth’s bounty is our greatest gift. What we give in return is love to our family, our community and our Earth. Whether Passover, Easter or Ramadan, mankind looks to spring as a season for the renewal of spirit.

In that light, there are a few positive things that this pandemic is delivering our otherwise frenetic, fast-moving and globalized society. We have just been told to hit life’s “pause” button. Pause to reflect, to love and to pray.

Industry, too, has been paused. As a result, our streets are emptied, consumption reduced, factories stilled. What’s bad for our economy, however, might end up being good for our ecology. It’s not a trade-off anyone chose to make.

Ideally, environmentally friendly economic activity should always be the goal of governments and leaders. During much of the 20th century, the false choice between growth and the environment is one the world has been making at scale on the side of polluting industry.

Some places have proven that this false choice can be overcome, where adhering to the Paris climate accords does not mean a lowering of economic activity in exchange for environmental protection. It can, in fact, translate into sustainable growth.

So here we are. 2020. Olympics postponed, airplanes grounded, people at home learning, working, socializing online. We forsake our cars and eschew public transport and instead look for connection with our schoolmates, friends, colleagues in postage stamp-sized images on computer screens. Not all of us, of course — only those of us lucky enough to have had schools, jobs, and friends before the crisis hit. Only the lucky ones with computers, high-speed broadband and savings accounts to help us ride out this moment. The lucky ones should both pause to pray and push to help those who lacked some or all of those critical things that bring joy, meaning, comfort, and security to our lives.

In 2020 BC (Before Covid), the global economy was fueled by millions of barrels of oil sucked out of the ground or forced out by fracking. The main use for that oil was to move people and goods throughout our country and around the world. It creates greenhouse gases and, according to most scientists, is a main contributor to climate change, warming up the atmosphere, melting the polar ice caps, flooding parts of Miami during king tides.

Might this all be wrong? We can now test the hypothesis as we live this real-time experiment.

It is 2020 AD (After Donald), and energy prices have sunk as demand precipitously dropped, leaving full oil tankers to bob on the seas as they wait for prices to rise. Captains of these oil-filled vessels seek port in countries with empty storage tanks to offload their money-losing cargo.

When the novel coronavirus is finally managed, a wholesale and rapid return to our 2020 BC ways is unlikely. Things have already changed too much. How important will travel be to business going forward? Will 3D printing replace shipping and warehousing of parts and materials? Can schools put part of their future curriculum and training online? Will we need to spend half a day to get to a 15-minute medical appointment?

This COVID moment will be a short pause rather than a hard stop in the human activity that has created environmental degradation. But when the world slowly comes out of this dark period and after it has mourned its many tragic losses of life and the end of the BC world, it will be worth remembering that America and the world need not return to its wanton ways. A greener, greater, godlier way of life is something for which we should all pause and pray.

Markos Kounalakis has celebrated Easter with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (aka “The Green Patriarch”). Kounalakis is a Hoover Institution visiting fellow.

This story was originally published April 10, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "As the world hits a coronavirus pause, will the environment take a breath?."