Our cars are sitting in our driveways as many of us work from home, huge airlines are mothballing their fleets, and businesses around the world have closed their doors due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
It is a semi-apocalyptic scenario that no one could have foreseen just two months ago. The spiraling death toll is hard to fathom, and the grief for those in mourning doesn’t bear thinking about.
After the worst is over, our public health systems will certainly change forever, but could the fallout also result in us changing our consumption-heavy lifestyles in ways that could prevent a future outbreak, or in ways that improve the air we breathe?