No one expected a pandemic, but researchers have learned a lot from it and are determined to do it again as the pandemic appears to be waning.

More and more countries are partially or completely lifting the corona measures. And with that, the restrictions that kept us mostly house-bound for almost two years are gradually disappearing. What that will do to humanity is anyone’s guess. Many go out again: days out, visiting (distant) friends and family, back to the office every day or once on a plane holiday. “This could lead to a global spike in human mobility,” researcher Christian Rutz predicts.

Anthropause

And that peak has already been given a name by Rutz and colleagues: the antropulse. This anthropulse follows the anthropause: a term also launched by Rutz’s research group which describes the period when we were all confined to home.

Lots of research

Extensive research has already been done into the effects of this anthropause. For example, researchers have looked at the impact the anthropause had on air quality and the movements of birds, mammals and marine animals. And so the pandemic offered scientists – unintentionally, but undeniably – the opportunity to extensively investigate the impact that our mobility has on nature. And in this way also gain inspiration for a more sustainable world in which that impact is significantly reduced.

Antropulse

However, it can be at least as valuable to also study the threatening anthropulse, Rutz and colleagues now argue in the magazine. Nature Reviews Earth and Environment† Rutz expects that in the coming period we will return to pre-pandemic levels or even surpass them. Because many people still feel that they have something to catch up on, he says. And that will undoubtedly have a major impact on our natural environment and Rutz and colleagues are ready to document that impact.

Indicate

The new observations during the anthropulse can be used, among other things, to interpret the changes that were previously observed during the anthropause. During the anthropause, for example, various (mostly positive) consequences of reduced human mobility have been noted and scientists often have ideas about how these consequences came about. And those ideas can be strengthened (or disproved) if we see those consequences (partially) disappear again during the anthropulse. “Such a semi-experimental change in circumstances is rarely feasible in environmental impact studies, but could take place in many places now that the pandemic has subsided,” Rutz writes.

Just like the anthropause, it is a unique opportunity to get a grip on the impact we have on our environment and to tackle that impact. “As the world moves past the tragic circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must use our enhanced understanding of the interaction between humans and the environment to plan a more sustainable future.”