When this is over, we need to hold on to our fresh air

It’s been days and weeks in lockdown now, with new routines, and familiar routes from the desk to the kitchen to the sofa. And when you look outside, you probably see a bright blue skies outside.

Of course, this article assumes the great privilege of being able to step out into fresh air, compared to people who are not able to leave their flats. It assumes having the space of mind to think a few months ahead, rather than all those who are caring for patients and loved ones in urgent need. Still, air is a necessity for all of us, and thinking of how we come out of this crisis together is essential for our society.

In ordinary days, stepping out of your door anywhere near the centre of Brussels, where I happen to live, you immediately smell and taste car smoke and pollution. Walk along any the city’s deadlocked roads passed stand-still traffic, along winding side streets or ring-roads, you are inundated with fumes as the general public queue up to slowly make their way to and from work. It isn’t surprising, it’s a way of life we all take for granted, the familiar faint stale acidity of urban smog in the back of our mouths is there and we don’t even notice it.

Now we all try not to step out too often, and we do what we can to stay home and stay safe. But still, if you do go out to the supermarket, or a walk or a jog, something is different. It’s hard to put your finger on it at first, but when you get it , the realisation stays with you. The air is fresh and clear.

Suddenly, the city smells like the countryside, and you can breath in deep and actually take a moment to enjoy it. The streets are almost empty and so are the roads, a car passes here and there, but as far as the eye can see, the traffic and is gone, people are home, no one is out to queue up in a traffic jam.

There is a powerful contradictory tension here for us to grasp, that while many are laying sick in hospitals struggling to breath or at risk of infection, the air outside is fresher and healthier that we’ve ever had it.

Breathing is the most fundamental of activities in life, something we do all the time, by definition, and we would all do well to pay more attention to our breath, you may do so as you read these words. If you live in a city, put your head out of your window for a minute and take a breath, and feel the impact of less traffic, less pollution. It does feel like an extraordinary moment.

We need to get through the Corona crisis together, and we will pull through by supporting each other. However, when we do, and life goes back to its regular congested rhythms, we should not have to give up our fresh air again, and there is no reason at all that we should give it up.

In fact, air pollution kills. In Belgium alone approximately 10,000 people a year die prematurely of air pollution. And that multiplies to hundreds of thousands across Europe, and millions around the world. Now that we have all been following the statistics of the spread of the Corona pandemic, we are better equipped to put these numbers in perspective. And we all know that behind the threat of air pollution there is the towering elephant in the room, climate change, which will take a much heavier toll.

And just like there are measures we can take to combat the Coronavirus, there are tools available to eliminate pollution. First of all, we can tax carbon, and introduce congestion taxes in cities, which can then be re-invested in higher quality and cheaper public transport. Tax breaks and subsidies for fossil-fuel cars should be stopped an redirected towards sustainable transport. There needs to be a massive buy back of old polluting cars, which should be banned, to be replaced with brand new shiny carbon-neutral cars or other advanced socially inclusive transport solutions. Those who truly need a car for their livelihood and cannot afford the transition should be subsidised by those who are better off and can afford to choose to keep driving. New transport infrastructures and technologies should be rolled out for smart cities, and more work done flexibly from home or other locations. And the list of solutions goes on. The point is, they’re all there, right at hand.

So far, the argument has been that implementing all this would somehow be radical, or in some way harm the economy. If anything, this current crisis has shown us that in times of emergency, rapid fundamental transformations are possible

The difference between Corona outbreak and climate change, is that Corona is doing serious damage to the economy, and tackling climate change presents an opportunity for growth, economically and socially. If we fight to keep our air fresh and our society healthy, it will mean investing in all these new sustainable infrastructures, sustainable technologies and new designs, stimulating an era of inclusion, creativity, elegance and well-being. It will be exactly the kind of stimulus we need to move our economy forward after such a difficult time.

At the end of the Second World War, the productive and technological power that was built up for human being to destroy each other was then turned around and used to rebuild a more open and more prosperous world. That was not an inevitable historical shift, it was a deliberate decision by far-sighted and courageous leaders, and a generation of people who made the right choices. Coming out of this painful crisis, our generation needs to make a far-sighted choice, to keep our air fresh, our people healthy, and our economy sustainable and clean.