Plumer, B. (2022, January 10). U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Bounced Back Sharply in 2021. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/10/climate/emissions-pandemic-rebound.html
This article explores the pandemic’s effect on transportation and Greenhouse Gas Emissions and how we are seeing a sharp increase in carbon as we return to our normal state of affairs. The article states that transportation saw a 10 percent increase in emissions in 2021 after a 15 percent decline in 2020, which can be attributed to a rise in diesel-fueled trucks carrying goods to consumers and higher levels of freight traffic. Passenger travel in cars and airplanes has been slower to recover. The uncertainty around new variants disrupted travel plans and kept many people at home, so we are not completely back to previous levels. The article also discusses Biden’s auspicious carbon emission goal and discerns whether his supporting policies are enough to get us to net zero emissions by 2050.
The article’s emphasis on sustainability and the general premise of weighing options based on scientific fact to determine the most sustainable policies associates it with environmental science. I believe the article did a good job of succinctly describing the pandemic’s effect on greenhouse gas emissions and explaining why it was unsustainable. I also enjoyed their fiscal and social analysis of Biden’s Build Back Better bill, as they did not solely focus on the environmental effect but proffered a holistic analysis of all its ramifications.
It is interesting to see the effect that the pandemic had on climate change and carbon emissions. How can we observe this positive trend and continue it as transportation and carbon emissions begin to rise again?
How do you think that we should change the transportation industry to lower greenhouse gas emissions? What would help make the goal of net-zero carbon by 2050 possible?
I believe a switch to electric vehicles and greater use of public transport are the best bets.
I find it interesting that the COVID-19 pandemic/ lockdown actually had an affect on our carbon emissions, although it does make sense. Do you think that there is anything we could do in terms of public transportation which would yield similar results?
Hi Dylan thank you for your comment, I believe that increasing the amount and accesablilty of public transportation will greatly benefit CO2 reductions.