We know — without a doubt — that climate change is happening. But we also have answers, solutions, and new ideas. And we want to share them. So we’re bringing you a set of stories that champion the people, technologies, and movements at the forefront of sustainability.


When life on Earth came to a standstill shortly after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the planet, as always, continued to spin. It also, unexpectedly, began to thrive. The sudden collapse of commuter culture decreased air pollution in cities around the world, leading to an almost 20-percent reduction in global nitrogen-dioxide concentrations — a pollutant generated in large part by the fossil fuels burned in transportation.

Global carbon emissions fell by 7 percent in 2020, the largest single-year decline on record. In the U.S., carbon emissions fell by 12 percent. During the first six weeks of lockdown, traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area fell by 45 percent, and carbon emissions fell by about 25 percent.

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The decline in air pollution wasn’t the only aspect of human activity ceasing. Scientists also discovered at least a short-term reduction in lake and river pollution, a direct result of the decreased amount of toxic particles in the environment. Shelter-in-place orders also led to an almost 50-percent reduction in noise pollution.

Now, with the world inching ever closer to the resumption of normal activity, those temporary improvements could also be on the verge of reverting to the norm. What we do next, says Omar Freilla, an environmental-justice activist and entrepreneur in the Bronx, New York, could potentially impact the future of our planet.

“The way things are now is not sustainable,” he says. “There are so many people banging at the door, seeking a return to the so-called normal. They want to get back to the lives they’re used to.”

As we inevitably revert back to business as usual, he says, it’s time to evaluate what we learned — and should unlearn — from our collective forced pause.

When the planet reawakened

Flora and fauna didn’t exactly reclaim the Earth, but our reduced movement did bring about a noticeable shift in wildlife. While many of the initial stories proved to be either fake or exaggerated, a pair of dolphins actually swam through the Venice canals.

“In the first few months, we were definitely seeing all the stories about foxes and deer and rabbits and all kinds of animals popping up in unlikely places where they hadn’t been before, and we looked at that and felt good about it,” says Freilla, founder of Green Worker cooperatives, a training program that teaches aspiring entrepreneurs how to create worker-owned green businesses.

He says that human beings have such a major impact on the environment that we’ve changed the landscape and the habitats of all other forms of life too — something many didn’t fully comprehend until a global pandemic shut everything down.

“And then we emerge from our lives in a vacuum, and suddenly other animals and other life starts to pop up and say, ‘Hey, remember us, we’re here; this is our space too!’” he says.

Rue Mapp, founder and CEO of Outdoor Afro, a network that inspires Black communities to connect with nature, says another seismic shift occurred in humans. When we were suddenly cut off from one another and our normal routines, people flocked to natural spaces in search of beauty and a grounding experience.

“Humans, being the animals we are, all got on the same hymnal, and everybody just locked in on nature,” she says. “I saw children outside I didn’t even know lived in my neighborhood.” Suddenly, Mapp saw a dramatic influx of kids on bicycles and roller skates, and adults taking evening walks together. “That was where we could go, and that’s what we still could do when everything around us was closing. Nature never closed.”

Reconnecting with nature can be the first step in personal environmentalism. That reconnection has been one of the biggest positive impacts of the pandemic, she says. Once people build a relationship with a local park or nature walk, when they come to depend on it for community, they also become invested in its preservation.

Reconnecting with nature can be the first step in personal environmentalism. That reconnection has been one of the biggest positive impacts of the pandemic.

“People are getting their nature swagger back and getting into the comfort zone of being in a relationship with the outdoors,” says Mapp. “For me, that’s what it’s all about. It’s not about how many picket signs you can make; it’s about your relationship with these natural spaces. If you’re in a relationship with your local park that you didn’t even know was there until this pandemic, you better believe you’re going to feel differently about whether or not it’s important to protect that space. When there’s a ballot measure that comes around, you’re going to want to do well by it and fund its needs.”

New habits to continue forward

While the return of wildlife and a rekindling of the human relationship with nature was a feel-good change of pace, Freilla says it’s essential to remember that the change was a temporary side effect. Real, lasting change requires future actions.

Some changes will be outside of individual control. While 55 percent of employees prefer to continue working remotely at least three days a week post-pandemic, 68 percent of executives say employees should be in the office at least three days a week. There’s simply no way to replicate the effects of a total shutdown, but even if we were to commit to driving 10 percent less — a reduction of 1,350 miles per U.S. driver annually — it would eliminate an estimated 110 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

Achieving small-scale impacts, however, isn’t impossible. Much of the advice that existed pre-pandemic remains for the types of small-scale solutions individuals should focus on. Walk or bike when and if you are able. Decrease overall vehicle usage. Avoid one-time-use plastics. Compost your waste. Utilize reusable bags and containers.

Essentially, reduce, reuse, recycle, and implement energy-saving home solutions.

It might feel insignificant, but Freilla says focusing on individual contributions can engender the strength and courage to take on the big task of pushing for larger structural changes in society.

goats roam welsh town as coronavirus lockdown empties its streets
Christopher Furlong//Getty Images
Mountain goats roam the streets of LLandudno on March 31, 2020 in Llandudno, Wales. The herd was drawn to town by the lack of people and tourists due to the COVID-19 outbreak and quarantine measures.

“If I’m being mindful of how much waste I generate in my home, of where I shop, where the goods that I use are coming from and how they are made, then I’m going to get to a point where I have the courage to share that with other people,” he says. “Then I have the courage to take action and get others — corporations, schools, and city, state, and federal government bodies — to know that they’re making it hard for me to do what I want to do to protect the planet.”

One such wide-scale policy idea has been set forth by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, who announced her desire for the city to achieve “15-minute city” status. It’s a concept created by urbanist Dan Luscher that advocates for all residents to have access to the majority of essential services with no more than a 15-minute walk or bike ride.

Mapp says there are barriers to enacting such ideas in U.S. cities, which often are prone to the unequal distribution of amenities. For many neighborhoods — mostly in communities of color — parks and green spaces are nonexistent, and there are other areas in which natural spaces might not be safe environments. Nevertheless, she encourages people to find a way to connect.

“I think that we have to rethink the outdoors,” she says. “It’s not necessarily this perfectly bucolic destination. It might mean growing a container garden on your fire escape. It might be you taking up bird-watching because you set up a bird feeder outside of your kitchen window. There’s all this drama and theater that is right outside our windows, and so we have to then rethink that the outdoors is not that faraway place but something that we can create.”

New habits to ramp down

Not every development in our pandemic way of life has been environmentally friendly. Food delivery more than doubled as restaurants struggled to persist and would-be diners sought out the comforts of their favorite foods. As a result, takeout waste increased dramatically, including difficult-to-recycle items like single-use plastic utensils and Styrofoam containers.

Food delivery was just one small part of the overall uptick in delivery culture. E-commerce experienced a single-year surge of 77 percent in May 2020. UPS saw a 65-percent increase in home deliveries. Shipments of corrugated boxes, while recyclable, have increased 9 percent in the past year — requiring approximately 3 billion trees to be pulped. Demand for the air-filled plastic filling that protects our shipped goods has skyrocketed, while less than 14 percent ends up being recycled.

People are getting their nature swagger back and into the comfort zone of being in a relationship with the outdoors. That’s what it’s all about — not about how many picket signs you can make but about your relationship with these natural spaces.

Freilla says that while the pandemic has been a boost for online retailers, it’s been a disaster for the planet. While the increased waste was born out of economic and personal necessity, post-coronavirus it will be important not only for the environment but for the future success of our local communities to return to local shopping.

“It is not a good thing that people are getting their goods through online deliveries,” he says. “I buy a tube of toothpaste, a book, some laundry detergent, and shampoo. I can buy four different things, and they could come to my home on four different dates in four separate boxes with plastic packaging. Previously, I would have gotten those four things and maybe 10 other things in one trip to a local supermarket that’s just a few blocks away.”

Taking a green step forward

According to Freilla, there are limits to what an individual can accomplish. The biggest factors in limiting the consequences of the climate crisis will be regulatory in nature.

“I can buy all the local food I want, but, at the end of the day, if the global temperatures are changing and the storms are getting stronger, those individual choices alone are not going to cause a shift,” he says. “It’s going to be based on the choice that I make to organize with other people and push for that bigger shift.”

young volunteers working with senior man in his vegetable patch in community garden
Thomas Barwick//Getty Images
Find local groups actively working on environmental issues affecting your community.

Find local groups actively working on environmental issues affecting your community, which Freilla extends to matters of public health, access to green spaces, and region-specific pollution issues. Or, he says, it could involve working with groups to push for state and local policy changes.

“In every community in the U.S., there are people that are organizing around things like that, so everyone should be plugged in to something that’s happening,” he says. “For me, that will always be the most impactful action someone can take.”

In light of what she calls our “summer of wokeness” following the murder of George Floyd, Mapp says celebrating our planet and all of its inhabitants, both in how we engage with it and how we approach its challenges, has become her focus.

“Once you start talking about the crisis and the problem, people shrink into a corner and they feel completely overwhelmed,” she says. “I always say that charity starts at home. Make a change by getting in a relationship with the world in your own backyard. Recognize the nature that’s within you. Nature is not over there. If you take inventory of who we are as humans, we are first of all animals and comprised of mostly water. We are affected by lunar cycles and the environments around us, and so connecting with nature for me is about connecting with the self.”

That self-connection, she says, is the real opportunity. It can lead to more personal freedom and a deeper connection with others as humans different from ourselves.

“I think nature shows us through example how we can connect with each other in our humanity,” she says. “The trees don’t know that I’m black. The flowers will bloom no matter what kind of money is in my bank account. The birds are going to sing, just like the wind blows no matter what my politics are — no matter how I present to the world on the exterior. We can go in nature and experience true freedom.”

After more than a year of isolation, the freedom to live long, healthy lives on a flourishing planet seems an even more noble goal. Now that we’re no longer restricted by our housebound existences, we must remember we’re always home in a larger sense of the word. And beautifying and protecting

that home is something we all can and should get behind.


Matthew M. F. Miller is a freelance writer and author of Dad’s Guide to Pregnancy For Dummies. He is currently writing a weight loss book that tells the stories of people who have lost half their body weight and kept it off for more than 10 years.

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