Car buying soared during the pandemic, but there was one small bright spot for planet Earth: Electric cars boomed too. Tesla sold a record-breaking 139,300 vehicles in the third quarter of 2020.
According to a survey of South Korean households, individuals across income brackets reduced clothing consumption during the pandemic. The garment industry — especially fast fashion — is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
Americans took more road trips and flew less in 2020, and it's likely that will continue in 2021. Air travel declined by 70 percent at the peak of the lockdown, Pep Canadell, Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project, tells Inverse.
More people took to cycling and walking than ever before during the pandemic, offsetting the reduction in public transit ridership. Spending time in green spaces is also good for mental health.
"The single most important factor in the drop was emission reductions from the transport sector, particularly road transport, suggesting that the actual lockdowns truly kept people at home and traveling less nationally and internationally," Canadell tells Inverse.
Not necessarily.
"Where contexts remain stable, if strong habits have been formed, we would predict that the behavior will persist after lock-down," Phillippa Lally tells Inverse. Lally is a senior research fellow at University College London’s Department of Behavioral Science and Health.
"Habits are about context...if previous pre-lockdown habit cues return, then old habits are likely to again guide behavior," says Lally.
"It would also help to get the things you need, like your helmet, ready the night before, and you could even put the car keys out of the way," Lally says.
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