Coronavirus Politics Pt. 7— Covid Waste
Have you taken a second to think about how much waste we are creating since Covid-19 started? It seems quite odd considering there was this whole concept that due to everyone working from home and not having the ability to travel the air was cleaner and perhaps Covid-19 was going to help contribute to cleaning up global climate change. Everything seems great until reopening happened. But was it really ever?
We seemed to have this misconception that since working from home started the environment was going to become cleaner. The only thing is, no one stopped to think about how all of these office buildings still had to be running on the bare minimum. These buildings do not just shut down. The lights still stay on, the heat or air conditioning continue running, and the water stays on. The maintenance staff is still traveling to and from work. They are essential. Now, not only do we have people at home using electricity but, these buildings as well. We also have more people on unemployment, unwilling or unable to leave their homes, using more energy, also contributing.
Now, let us think about what opened and these new standards. We go out to eat at a restaurant and plenty of times they have plastic place settings in order to limit the spread, changing out paper menus every time there is a new table to sit. We were always told to limit the use of aerosol cans and I have not been able to find a can of Lysol in weeks, I can only fathom how many have been disposed of since the virus started on top of the amount of wipes we use. Think of how many plastic gloves and disposable masks you find in the street. Eventually all of those will end up in our oceans, hurting our Eco-systems even more.
The virus has made most people more aware of hygiene but less aware of how much waste we are creating. We as a population need to be more leery of what we are using and how we are disposing of those items. Why do you not opt for the reusable, washable mask? If you want to eat out order in, and wash the containers instead of disposing them immediately. When you are supposed to be working from home remember that not everyone is, those office lights are still on and maybe you should not have both your laptop charging and the TV on.
We need to continue to be aware. Stop letting the misconception fool you. Our oceans are still suffering, we are still facing warmer temperatures than almost ever before, and we seem to have lost most prevention standards. Consider this: how much longer do you want earth to be around for?
