{"id":546,"date":"2020-04-23T10:00:47","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T07:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/?p=546"},"modified":"2020-04-28T15:48:20","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T12:48:20","slug":"pandemics-environmental-crises-and-consumption-lessons-to-learn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/2020\/04\/23\/pandemics-environmental-crises-and-consumption-lessons-to-learn\/","title":{"rendered":"Pandemics, environmental crises and consumption: Lessons to learn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Finland, we consume on average almost four times the amount that is\nenvironmentally sustainable. Calls for changing our consumption patterns in\nresponse to the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and other environmental\nproblems have for years resulted in only little change. The current global\npandemic appears to have succeeded where threats of environmental crises have\nso far failed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our consumption patterns have changed drastically almost overnight and are currently quite radically different than just a few short weeks ago. Our consumption spendings have decreased by a quarter<\/a>, flights in Europe have decreased by 85%,<\/a> and the demand for oil is plummeting<\/a> as mobility decreases. These changes are already having positive environmental impacts, showing in reduced pollution<\/a> and expected to reduce global CO2 emissions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current consumption changes are of course likely to be only\ntemporary, as most of us are eagerly awaiting to get back to normal.\nUnfortunately,  the climate crisis is\nhere to stay and requires a more permanent change to our consumption patterns.\nIn our efforts to mitigate climate change and other environmental problems, can\nwe learn something from the current crisis?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the current crisis has taught us one thing, it is that waiting until\nwe are in the middle of a crisis to make changes is not a good strategy. The\ndrastic reductions in consumption that we are seeing at the moment are neither\nsocially nor economically sustainable. Many are losing their jobs, companies\nare struggling to stay afloat, and the national debt is expected to skyrocket. Since\nour economies and societies are built around high levels of consumption, sudden\ndisruptions to this trajectory are disastrous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changes to our consumption patterns require accompanying changes to how\nour societies are structured. It requires rethinking and restructuring of the\neconomic system. The current pandemic has shown us that, in the face of crisis,\npolitical decisions that dramatically change our everyday lives can happen very\nquickly when needed. But it would be in all of our best interests not to wait\nfor environmental problems to keep worsening and instead make efforts to tackle\nthem before we are in the midst of the crisis. Acting before the storm hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maria Sandberg<\/a>
Doctoral Student<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo: Willgard Krause, Pixabay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Finland, we consume on average almost four times the amount that is environmentally sustainable. Calls for changing our consumption patterns in response to the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and other environmental problems have for years resulted in only little change. The current global pandemic appears to have succeeded where threats of environmental crises have …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[51,20,53,8,60],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cers-blog","tag-covid-19","tag-consumption","tag-corona","tag-environment","tag-pandemics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":550,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions\/550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}