This blog post has been produced with Ringway, who are part of the  CIHT partnership network. 

This Earth Day, 22 April 2020, we had experienced a month of lockdown in the UK and we're all looking forward to the time when we could start to get back to normal. None of us had anticipated when we were eating our Christmas dinner with family and friends that we’d be spending Easter in lockdown. The world had changed dramatically in just a few months.

With the scale of the human tragedy still unfolding, and economies taking a battering, it is only natural that we are desperate to get back to normal as we now emerge from lockdown. But before we rush back to ‘normal’ we have a chance to reflect on how that should really look.

‘Normal’ was when we were already living in a crisis, well beyond the planet’s ability to support us. We talked about a Climate Emergency, but many questioned whether global action was being taken at the pace or scale appropriate for an ‘emergency’ response.

It would be easy to think that with plummeting air travel and industrial emissions across the globe, we have bought ourselves some time in tackling the Climate Emergency. But we haven’t. The last time there was this amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, humans didn’t exist, and sea levels were 20m higher. The world is not on track to meet the commitments of the Paris Agreement and far greater ambition is needed if we want to avoid more permanent shocks to our economy and society in future.

However, what we do perhaps have, is a little time to consider the ‘new normal’ that we would like once this coronavirus has been beaten. And time to consider some important lessons that the coronavirus is teaching us.

It has been striking and heart-warming, to see that while society ground to a halt, the natural world marched on, with spring flowers blooming and birds nesting. In fact, the lockdown has given a boost to wildflowers as mowing of verges and parks has reduced.

Whilst air pollution has sadly been linked to a higher rate of COVID-19 deaths, we have also enjoyed marked improvements in air quality across the world and CO2 emissions are expected to be down at least 5% in 2020. The sharp reduction in flights and car travel reduced noise pollution for many.

Communities have shown enormous resilience and united in the face of this challenge. 750,000 people registered to volunteer for the NHS, with thousands more helping those who are vulnerable or self-isolating. Without the daily commute many are enjoying extra time for exercise and connecting with family.

As we return to ‘normal’ how do we ensure that we retain the positive things; resilient communities galvanised into action for a common cause, improved air quality, lower noise and congestion and lower CO2 emissions? How do we give nature the space to thrive, creating green infrastructure, green corridors and working with environmental and farming groups to ensure that we don’t increase the risk of future pandemics?

Whilst it has become clear this pandemic is not the ‘leveller’ as it was originally described, with some individuals and communities suffering far more than others, we have an opportunity as individuals, businesses and as a nation to rebuild an economy that is fairer and kinder, serving all parts of society and the environment well. As we all work towards this goal, perhaps ‘normal’ is not what we should be aiming to get back to, and we can take this opportunity to make permanent changes for the better.

We took time to consider the future we wanted when we celebrated World Environment Day on 5th June. This year’s theme was ‘Time for Nature’. There is so much our sector can do to promote a different future – we create, manage, and maintain the roads, footways and public places that keep us connected. As we emerge from lockdown, let’s make nature part of the equation. The Future: It’s in our hands.