URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2020_Melissa-McCarthy

“ CLIMATE SCIENTISTS, LIKE MOST ALL OF US, WANT A CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTION THAT ALLOWS PEOPLE

TO LIVE HEALTHY AND PRODUCTIVE LIVES WITHOUT DECIMATING THE ECONOMY. ” - JAIME PALTER

Jamie Palter Associate Professor Graduate School of Oceanography

by renewable sources and to develop policies that encourage solar and wind energy production. Additionally, choosing to reduce our use of single- use plastics will make a difference, as plastics are petroleum-based products and the manufacturing process adds greatly to carbon emissions. “Radical action produces remarkable results,” said Lang, noting that while quarantine doesn’t offer a sustainable solution for climate change, the situation provides a good example of how people can together, take radical action, and make a difference. That is, the large-scale quarantine this past spring provided a brief window to the improved air quality we would all carbon neutral, a concept that means adding to the atmosphere roughly the same level of emissions as the earth naturally absorbs. Rather than the loftier goal of striving to be carbon negative, or removing carbon from the atmosphere to reverse the effects of climate change — the latter solution that is unlikely to be attainable in the short-to-medium term future. “Climate change is a difficult problem to focus on because the rewards are far in the future,” Lang noted. “So other problems with more immediate payoffs get more attention.” enjoy with widespread sustained efforts. The goal, according to Lang, is to first be

Lang said the pandemic proves that governments and their citizens can take dramatic, rapid and unpopular action in a time of crisis. He hopes that society can apply that same collective and serious approach to climate change, which will last well beyond a pandemic and requires a coordinated global response.

LESSONS LEARNED 1. The global quarantine served as a brief “natural experiment” that shows how rapidly positive change can occur, but this will only happen with the serious and consistent collective action of governments and populations across the globe. 2. Each of us have personal roles to play in reducing the production and release of greenhouse gases, including limiting unnecessary commuting, reducing the use of single-use plastics, choosing renewable energy sources and more.

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