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, 15 tweets, 4 min read

1/ THREAD: The #COVID19 crisis is heartbreaking on many levels. My first thoughts are always with those whose health livelihoods are impacted. I'm also thinking about the economic impacts all of us are feeling.

2/ I'm also in awe all of you heroes working on the front lines. Health care workers. Grocery supply chain workers. Scientists working on fighting this disease and developing a vaccine. Anyone still working in a higher risk environment. You are amazing.

3/ But what's unfolding got me thinking about my #ClimateChange beat in a deeper way. Opportunity can be born from crisis.

4/ Remember the tragic I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007? MNDOT expanded I-94 in Minneapolis from 3 to 4 lanes to alleviate traffic flow. It worked so well that they kept it that way permanently.

@MPRnews

@MPRnews

5/ In our current #coronavirus crisis we're seeing a huge percentage of people forced to work from home. Most of my colleagues @MPRnews are among those. Many of my colleagues are doing amazing work from home. Many are doing heroic work in the MPR studios and newsroom.

6/ I typically work from my home "Weather Lab" 4 days a week. Now, it's 5 days a week. Even working from home most days, I have effectively been able to build an entire major market broadcast weather brand from the ground up over the past 13 years.

7/ I have also cut my commuting carbon footprint by 60% to 80% during that time.

8/ With so many people #SocialDistancing at home around the world, GHG emissions are falling. China has seen a 25% drop. The 2008 crisis caused a temporary 3% reduction globally.
wired.com/story/coronavi…

9/ Obviously we don't want the massive economic disruption we're seeing today. But it does beg the question; how many people working at home today could actually do that permanently?

10/ Could 25% or 50% of us effectively work from home each week? Could most of us work from home one to three days each week?

11/ We know that right now transportation is the biggest contributor to GHG emissions. It's also the biggest opportunity we have to "flatten the emissions curve" ahead.

12/ And we know that *daily* commuting is the biggest portion of transportation GHG emissions. Limiting our trips to work is one very effective solution among many climate solutions on our changing planet. mprnews.org/story/2018/04/…

13/ We are now proving we can radically change our behavior to try and mitigate the COVID-19 crisis. Hopefully, we will be successful in reducing the severity and duration of this terrible outbreak.

14/ When this is over, maybe it's time to assess just how quickly we could lower transportation-related GHG emissions by rethinking how many people can actually work effectively from home. /END