Has virus got us starting to live more sustainably?
Latest edition of the JPIMedia coronavirus podcast Alone Together is available now to download from all your usual podcast hosting platforms.
Hosted by Morven McIntyre and Matt Millard, this latest episode will be asking whether the pandemic has helped or hindered our progress to live more sustainably?
It will explore the ways we have had to adapt to coronavirus in order to stay safe, and the impact this may have on the environment.
And it asks, are we as a nation still on track for a carbon neutral future?
Morven McIntyre speaks to Beth Gardiner, an environmental journalist and author of bestselling book Choked: The Age of Air Pollution and the Fight for a Cleaner Future.
She discusses the lessons that can be learned from the COVID-19 outbreak.
“She said: “We learned a lot from the lockdown experience, and there were some people who said, ‘we did get cleaner air, is there a way we can make that last?’”
Beth also outlines the importance of avoiding a ‘dirty recovery’ which is an economy centred on fossil fuels and urges governments not to take a backwards step when it comes to carbon emissions.
Also in this episode, Matt Millard speaks with transport expert Tom Millard, a senior consultant and lead for economics at PJA - an integrated transport, engineering and placemaking consultancy based in Birmingham.
Tom explains how the pandemic has impacted travel demand.
He said: “Transportation plays a key part in this climate emergency that we now find ourselves in and reducing car use is fundamental in reducing the impact on the environment.
“It’s not only about the emissions but also about the space that the vehicles take up which causes congestion.”
Tom also discusses the government policy of ‘gear change’ which aims to enable the public to use ‘active travel’ by building more
cycling lanes and widening pavements.
Back in May, the government announced a new £2 billion package to help get people cycling and walking more.
Alone Together is a Laudable production from the newsrooms of the Manchester Evening News, the Edinburgh Evening News and Birmingham Live.
It is available on all major podcasting platforms, including Spotify and Apple.
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