Bulletin No. 1, 2020

The Corona Chronicle 31 W hen the world comes to a halt, is there a silver lining? At first glance, the pandemic was a boon for Planet Earth. As Prof. Francis Tam of the Earth System Science Programme noted, there were significant drops in pollutants and greenhouse gases like nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in such places as China and New York with the economy slowing down and traffic disrupted. In the long run, though, the pandemic is no good news to the environment. For one, the temporary downturn in the global economy is not a solution to climate change, which operates on a much longer time scale, according to Prof. Gabriel Lau , Advisor of the Institute of Environment, Energy and Sustainability. This is echoed by Prof. Amos Tai of the Earth System Science Programme, who pointed out that CO 2 emission tends to rebound after a dip resulting from a major global crisis. The world could even see what is known as ‘revenge pollution’, where greenhouse gas emissions increase even more quickly than they did before the crisis as we try to make up for the lost time and GDP. The ways we tackle the pandemic have placed tremendous strain on the environment, too. With Hongkongers staying home more often, the number of takeaway meals ordered per week saw a drastic increase of 74%, and more than 100 million pieces of plastic utensils were used and thrown out every week, as a study by Greeners Actions shows. Meanwhile, countless masks were improperly disposed of. Piling up on the beaches and the hiking trails, they posed a serious threat to life on land and in the sea. Prof. David Chen of the Department of Geography and Resource Management further warned that the pandemic will get in our way to fix our planet. ‘The development of renewable energy and clean production might be impeded by the pressing need of rapid economic recovery. International cooperation on environment and climate change might also be weakened with attention and effort being drawn to the pandemic,’ he said. Nothing on Earth escapes the pandemic. Its impact is felt socially, economically and politically. At the same time, it has exposed problems that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. Despite these setbacks for those of us working towards a better, more sustainable world, the pandemic has given us a window of opportunity to make things work, and at CUHK, we are seizing this opportunity to play our part. A Zero-sum Game in Nature? Prof. Francis Tam Earth System Science Programme Prof. Gabriel Lau Advisor of the Institute of Environment, Energy and Sustainability Prof. Amos Tai Earth System Science Programme Prof. David Chen Department of Geography and Resource Management