No one will disagree that 2020 was not the best year for most of us, except for those heavily invested in the Stock Markets. However, there was some good news despite the COVID pandemic. Here are a few examples:
- Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump to become the next American president, although there are millions of angry Americans who still wanted to see Trump re-elected. Despite Trump’s attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the voting process, democracy won in the end run.
- Obviously, the coronavirus vaccine remarkably became the fastest vaccine to be ever developed, authorized for use and is now being administered. Its development prompted a wave of unprecedented global scientific and governmental collaboration. As one scientist put it: “In the last 11 months, probably 10 years’ work has been done.”
- With fewer people driving, flying and travelling in general, air pollution levels went down in most major cities. At one point, it was reported that global greenhouse gas emissions fell 17 percent, the biggest drop in human history.
- More countries, including Canada, made net-zero emissions pledges in 2020. South Korea became the first Asian country to set a 2050 net-zero emissions goal, followed by Japan and China, which committed to reaching net zero by 2060. China is the world’s biggest emitter and had previously committed only to aim for peak emissions in about 2030. The U.S. is expected to return to the Paris Accord on Climate Change under Biden’s administration and to commit to net-zero emissions goals.
- There were also major breakthroughs in the development of HIV prevention methods in 2020. Diagnoses of HIV among gay and bisexual men dropped to their lowest level in 20 years in several Western countries and more assistance is being provided to poorer countries.
- Demand for renewables, growing before the pandemic, held steady during 2020. Advancements in green tech have rapidly brought down the costs of wind and solar, making them highly competitive with fossil fuels. As a result of the lockdowns in several economies, the demand for fossil fuels went down and is expected to decline over the next decade.
- Green technologies are quickly growing, especially with the emerging transportation demands for more e-vehicles in moving both cargos and people. In addition, private vehicles are increasingly being designed out of urban areas with encouraging results for communities and businesses.
- More policies emerged to support greater diversity, most notably in the arts and in business. Such policies focus on more underrepresented groups, including women, people from racial or ethnic minority groups, LGBTI or disabled people.
- The Black Lives Matter movement raised the issue of systemic discrimination throughout societies, forcing governments and leaders to recognize and to act on its existence in different societal contexts.
- As a result of the many coronavirus-related deaths in long-term care residences, governments have been finally forced to recognize the horrendous situation respecting the warehousing of the elderly in our society. Hopefully, this will lead to the restructuring of long-term care as an extension of health care systems and to a more humane treatment of our vulnerable and ageing population.
- The pandemic has hopefully demonstrated the real need for global approaches to deal with poverty, climate change, refugees, endangered species, and a myriad of other issues.
Hopefully, 2021 will be a much better and safer year. Happy New Year to all!
FROLITICKS 
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