No, Coronavirus is Not What We Need to Cure the Earth

An ecological perspective on the quarantine, and why it’s wrong to say that humanity is the virus plaguing our planet

By Hannah Dove

During quarantine in which everyone is advised to head indoors, more and more people are seeing nature “reclaim” spaces where they once roamed—the rivers throughout Venice have never been clearer, and an absence of people has allowed the local fauna to walk the streets without repercussion. Perhaps it’s because people are now more aware of nature than ever that they are now decrying humanity for being the equivalent of Coronavirus to the planet’s health. People on social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram are photographing clear waters and less polluted skies, supposed “evidence” that quarantine has helped restore the earth, with captions often espousing that “maybe WE are the virus.” However, animals re-entering into once-populated areas is about entropy, not because the virus is an example of the earth finally healing itself. Let’s get something straight—Coronavirus is in no way good for the earth. According to the UN’s environment chief, Inger Andersen, “Nature is sending us a message with the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing climate crisis,” and it’s not one of revenge or healing—it’s one of warning. 

David Quammen, author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Pandemic, recently wrote in the New York Times about how “we invade tropical forests and other wild landscapes, which harbor so many species of animals and plants—and within those creatures, so many unknown viruses.” Viruses like COVID-19 are only just the beginning of an era of pandemics that are to come from the ecological destruction caused by unchecked capitalism. But there is a difference between the devastation wrought by capitalism and colonialism and the actions of humanity as a whole. “We” do not need a pandemic to chide us into helping the earth—several different cultures have existed on the planet for generations without the amount of deforestation, pollution, and habitual contamination seen in the past century or so. It’s dangerous to lump together megacorporations churning out fossil fuels by the megaton with the individual who relies on single-use medical equipment or cannot bike to work due to a physical disability. One can end up in a pattern of thinking that overpopulation is the main issue—and if overpopulation is the issue, that leads to people deciding who deserves to live and who deserves to die in order to fix said issue. This is the hidden rhetoric of eco-fascism: in parading as care for the earth, the care for those humans most affected by the negative ecological effects of consumption is absent. To be an eco-fascist is to be a nihilist seeking a singular scapegoat for the ecological atrophy witnessed by society, but that sort of attitude can lead to fingers pointed at those most vulnerable. 

A pandemic is never good—even if pollution stops in the short run, the number of fossil fuels used and carbon dioxide ejected back into the atmosphere will most likely triple in order to make up for the “lost profit” of a largely quarantined workforce. The effects on air pollution decreasing due to social distancing will only be temporary, and the canals in Venice may be clearer—but not cleaner. The Environmental Protection Agency has in fact waived enforcement on many of its health and environmental protections in order to “assist” industries such as oil and gas in complying with the Coronavirus era. “It’s not a sustainable way to reduce air pollution, and the long-term economic and well-being impacts of this crisis are going to be devastating for many people,” says McGill University associate professor and epidemiologist Jill Baumgartner.

It’s therein where we need to demand change—the economic structure and faceless businesses that put profit in front of people. A federal court as of March 25 granting a request by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to strike down federal permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline is a win for the environment. The active shift of people’s lifestyles in recognizing their effects on the environment at home and at work and the activism that takes place in fighting for the rights of the environment and the planet is a win for the environment. It is not inherently eco-fascist to take notice of how you and others impact the planet, and, in fact, it is crucial in understanding how structures ingrained in our society disintegrate the ecological safety nets surrounding the earth. Just don’t forget your empathy for others while you strive for a better future.