Lockdown, the economy and the environment

[Tony.Williams]

Ironic, isn't it? Lockdown meant a substantial chunk of the workforce working from home and others on furlough, so no commuting rush-hour any more, workers spend more time with their families, air pollution shrinks, and we get on target for cutting CO2. Everyone is happy, apart from some minor niggle in the back of the mind that somehow, all the money being thrown around will have to be paid back sometime.

But then reality bites: if we stop people commuting into city centres, all of those support networks of taxis, coffee bars, sandwich shops etc will collapse. And if we don't visit stores they will close. Our cities will become hollowed out. So we must return to our old, polluting, over-consumption habits as soon as possible!

So much for the environment. The lesson when considering our green future is that if we want to get to there, we shouldn't start from here.

[chaggle]

Whichever way you look at it....