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OPTIMISM FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD
from Spring 2020
by FieldNotes
What COVID-19 reveals about human impact and maintaining a sustainable relatonship with the environment.
by Ashika Capirala and Kathleen Gonzalez
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As COVID-19 rearranges the way our society functions and places strain on well-established systems, it manages to reveal just how deeply those systems are tied to the environment—bringing out connections that we are distanced from and giving us an opportunity to observe our impact in new ways. The future of the environment is shaped by our interactions with it, and our response to rising issues will be at the forefront of creating lasting change.
The effects of the pandemic on society requires us to look from the inside out—literally and metaphorically. Reductions in human activity on this unprecedented scale provide a window into what really happens in response, beyond models and predictions. It’s well known that behavioral changes can lead to reductions in emissions of pollutants, but recent declining trends in atmospheric concentrations in the Puget Sound region, especially nitric oxides (NOx), are a clear indication. In response to decreased vessel traffic and fewer boat trips, recorded concentrations of NOx in Seattle and Tacoma fell towards the end of March, with the downward trend becoming clearer throughout April. Although the implications of this remain to be seen after stay-at-home orders begin to lift, the effect of a reduction in traffic volume on local air quality is immediately visible. immediately observable changes: there has been a complete shift as human traffic mutes itself to give way to the sounds of wildlife. “It’s a reminder of just how much noise we create, and what effect that might have on other species.”
For Dr. Laura Prugh, a professor in the University of Washington School of Environment and Forestry Sciences studying wildlife ecology and species interactions, this is what stands out the most. “Just highlighting what a huge effect people have,” she says. “It’s fascinating to see how you can actually visualize the changes so quickly.” The soundscapes of urban and suburban areas are another example of where the drop in human activity has produced immediately observable changes: there has been a complete shift as human traffic mutes itself to give way to the sounds of wildlife. “It’s a reminder of just how much noise we create, and what effect that might have on other species.”
WHAT REMAINS IMPORTANT?
This leads to the question—where else do we have such a pervasive impact, and where is it becoming visible? What happens to carbon emissions when traffic is reduced to a fraction of the usual? Do wildlife return when we don’t crowd parks? This opens up inquiry within many facets of environmental study, like soundscape ecology, wildlife tracking and monitoring, and atmospheric science, among others. Though avenues of investigation are currently limited by reduced research funding and lab access, and the time spent adjusting to online academic environments post-COVID, these are questions that can still have implications for current research and the future of the human ecosystem.
Dr. Chris Anderson is a professor in the School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, working on investigating the links between the economy and fisheries systems. “Our current situation is going to allow us to observe what people do in extreme circumstances,” he explains. The efect of stayat-home regulations is giving us a real-time opportunity to watch the industry respond to a drastic reorganization of the supply chain. The global fisheries supply chain is tailored to the wholesale purchase of seafood by restaurants, where approximately 70% of seafood in the US is consumed. “The demand for all types of fish has collapsed because people aren’t eating in restaurants,” Anderson says. Without demand, most fish caught domestically don’t enter markets at all.
Beyond studying how the fisheries trade reacts to extremes, our situation also calls for thinking about strategies to maintain capacity when we inevitably return to business. The livelihoods of people involved in the trade—fishermen and restaurant owners, among others—are put at risk by the steep reduction in demand. However, Anderson mentions a bright side: fish stocks aren’t going anywhere, and with reduced catch, are actually given a chance to recover populations and thrive. When trade picks back up again, there will be no shortage of fish. “That’s going to make it less expensive and the quality is going to be superb, so we might see consumers trying to eat more fish,” Anderson comments. This is optimistic for the fisheries trade itself, but the positive impacts could extend past economics, with fish being a much more sustainable option for the environment as well as human health.
FIGURE 1: Graph showing the reduction in recorded emissions of NOx (in ppb) measured at two locations in the Puget Sound region between the end of January and end of April.
There’s another unique human-environment connection highlighted by recent operational changes: the importance of maintaining our relationship with the environment during times of crisis. Teri King, a marine water quality specialist with the Washington Sea Grant and Program Manager at SoundToxins, works on monitoring harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the Puget Sound. As part of her work with the WA State Department of Health, King runs marine biotoxin tests that are integral to maintaining the food safety of locally harvested shellfish. “With COVID, HAB monitoring and testing is really, really important, because that allows the shellfish industry to keep harvesting and providing food for our seafood markets,” King says. “And if there’s harmful [plankton] out there—they don’t care about a pandemic; they’re going to keep growing. If we couldn’t do this, I don’t know what would happen.”
Though King’s group has had to cut back on some testing because of social distancing protocols for field and lab work, it is no less important. It’s incredible to see the immediate response in deeming HAB monitoring mission-critical, with monitors and volunteers still going out to get samples taken and measurements done, all in the company of colleagues on Zoom calls.
The pandemic also drives us to explore the links between human, population, and ecosystem health. The ecosystem is not separate from us and our actions, and interference can have hugely negative repercussions for human health. Wildlife trade is an activity that encourages unnecessary human contact with wildlife and has caused disease outbreaks in the past. The current pandemic’s source produces yet another compelling reason to end the wildlife trade, and illustrates the link between preserving ecosystems to maintain population health. “I think that’s a really powerful model, and things like this highlight it so clearly,” Dr. Prugh tells us. “So I’m really hopeful that there will be a cultural change that reduces the demand for wildlife products.”
FIGURE 2: A net containing a bloom of plankton. HAB monitoring involvesweekly sampling from up to 50 sites to look for harmful algae in the water.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Wildlife trade isn’t the only area where we can hope for positive changes to occur—some lessons learned from the global response to the pandemic allow us to introspect on how human nature afects our relationship with the environment. It’s worth thinking about how we can work towards changing our actions to maintain a more sustainable relationship with the environment for benefits on both sides.
Despite the increasing awareness of issues of human impact, many people still fail to understand the environmental consequences their actions have. Dr. Nives Dolsak, Director of and a professor in the School of Marine & Environmental Affairs and adjunct professor of Political Science, illustrates one of the problems with environmental policy response in an article for Forbes: “Climate policies are hobbled by ‘spatial optimism,’ whereby individuals believe that their risk of being afected by climate change is less than for others”. The response of the government and of society to the pandemic was unique, in reaction to a crisis with global reach and immediate, devastating outcomes for many. This made it topical, and the issue was addressed with urgency. Environmental issues like climate change, despite their gravity, haven’t yet elicited a response at such a scale and pace in part because many people don’t directly experience or observe their effects.
This is the effect of spatial optimism, a term that describes how people are less likely to change their habits for a cause when they don’t understand the value of said change. Researchers play an important role in combating this by providing relevant findings and communicating them to the public, highlighting the importance of staying informed on current issues from sources vetted for by the scientifc community.
Major positive change for the future of environmental sustainability and better individual stewardship hinge on necessary changes to human behavior that the pandemic has shown us aren’t impossible. The magnitude and speed of our response to the ongoing pandemic will have the potential to change standards for future action on environmental issues, and could help remove the spatial optimism barrier that currently hinders motivation for major changes.
Dr. Nick Bond, Washington state climatologist and an instructor in Atmospheric Sciences at the UW, is guardedly optimistic that we can change our habits. “The people here [Seattle] for the most part have really embraced some of the changes that have been made — and so we’ve shown that behavior can change.” He raises the question, “how do we learn from what has happened to help motivate behavioral changes over the long term that we want to see?”
It can be said that optimism inspires positive change, and there is optimism for any issue. The fate of the environment ultimately resides in the need for a consensus on the behavioral changes necessary to improve current conditions, and the response time taken for these changes to be implemented worldwide. With the motivation for global change, there is real optimism for making positive diferences in the future.
