COVID-19 - Are there any benefits?

As we move through these difficult times, School of Environment and Sustainability, RRU faculty and colleagues have been commenting on the links between the virus, climate change and sustainability. It has become clear that the trade in live animals and continued destruction of wildlife habitat is a key factor in the transmission of viruses to humans. We must change our behaviour and the fact that out of this crisis, both air pollution and greenhouse gas gases have dramatically decreased, show the possibilities of how changing our activities can save ourselves and the planet. As I have written in my books (http://library.royalroads.ca/bookstore), there are always possibilities for transformation out of tragedy, and the articles below talk about the potential. 

All of us at RRU hope you and your loved ones continue to be safe and well. 

Ann Dale, Fallout from coronavirus outbreak triggers 25% decrease in China’s carbon emissions, https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/covid-19-coronavirus-climate-carbon-emissions-china-economy-1.5477466, February 28, 2020

Hilary Leighton, Complicated Gifts: Remembering How to Live and Love Well Through Crisis, https://medium.com/search?q=complicated%20gifts, April 1, 2020

Sarah Wolfe, To understand coronavirus transmission, we have to understand our wastewater, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-to-understand-covid-19-transmission-we-have-to-understand-our/, March 21st, 2020

Tad Homer-Dixon, Coronavirus will change the world. It might also lead to a better future, The Globe and Mail, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-coronavirus-is-a-collective-problem-that-requires-global/, March 5, 2020

John Robinson, COVID-19 and Sustainability, http://strings.org.uk/covid-19-and-sustainability/,  April 15, 2020