By Sarah Levesque
The novel COVID-19 or Coronavirus has caused unpresented impacts on normal life. Entire countries have been placed under quarantine, thousands have become sick, hundreds have died, and there has been a lot of panic. Countless events from conferences to the Chicago St. Patrick’s day parade have been canceled around the country and around the world. This has caused massive stock market declines, panic purchases, and all kinds of trips to be canceled or indefinitely postponed.
With all of this going on it can be easy to let your normally-sustainable life slip into the world of single use plastics, private transportation, and over purchasing. Below are some tips on how to prevent this slip from happening and how to keep sustainability at the top of your mind during COVID-19.
1. DON’T PANIC buy- when people think the end is near, they tend to panic buy. This includes hand sanitizer (amazon ran out recently), soap, and paper products such as paper towels, toilet paper, and tissues. Make sure you follow your normal rules of avoiding waste when shopping:
a. Start with what you have. You may have gone to Costco and purchased 30 boxes of tissues last month, you don’t need more. Same thing with other items, you may already have enough, be sure to check what you have before you run to the grocery store to buy 50 rolls of paper towels.
2. Reduce your carbon footprint by reducing your commute- work from home! If you are stuck in self-quarantine or your company is requiring that you work from home, you are helping the planet by staying home. Just make sure this doesn’t turn into an online shopping spree of panic buying items.
When traveling for non-school or work related reasons try to reduce your use of private transportation like lyft or uber. If you are like me and rely on public transportation try to walk more or if you do take public transport in a city with confirmed cases be sure to wash your hands (properly) after you get off the bus or the train. Also create a barrier between your hand and the surface by wearing gloves (winter running gloves are my go-to, light weight, machine washable, and reusable) or using a tissue or napkin.
3. A lot of people are looking to buy non-perishable food items and are stocking up on bottled water and other plastic wrapped products. You don’t have to do this. There is no concern over the safety of the US water supply so you are free to continue to drink from the tap (or a filter) as you were doing before. Non-perishable items are good to have in your pantry but they shouldn’t become your entire diet for the pandemic. Try to use delivery grocery services for fresh items if you are not sick. If you are under self- quarantine you can get pretty creative with using everything in your refrigerator. Also if you really are concerned take some time to freeze fresh
fruits and vegetables. If you are under quarantine you will be grateful for those beets you took the time to freeze a few week earlier.
With all the craziness of the COVID-19 pandemic it can be difficult to think about sustainability, however in this case sustainability can really make your life easier and better.
As always when it comes to your health be sure to listen to trained medical professionals and your doctor.