
By Nancy Schimelpfening
- The CDC has made certain recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep us all safer.
- Being a considerate shopper means following these guidelines.
- It's also important to be aware of the needs of others so everyone is able to buy the food and supplies they need.
- Store employees and delivery personnel also deserve our consideration.
If you're the person who does the shopping in your home, you may have felt a great deal of frustration during the past several weeks.
Although we're being encouraged to follow certain measures to prevent the spread of the disease COVID-19, it seems that some of our fellow shoppers are not always following them.
Whether they're crowding in between us, bursting our carefully cultivated 6-foot bubbles of space, or leaving their discarded gloves in their carts for the next person to remove, these shoppers are rude and infuriating.
But for the rest of us who may not want to be "that person," here are six ways to be a more considerate shopper.
1. Wear a Face Mask or Other Covering
Wearing a face mask to prevent the transmission of the virus is one of the most basic things we can do to be considerate of our fellow shoppers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is currently recommending that all people wear cloth face coverings in public spaces where it's difficult to maintain social or physical distancing, such as grocery stores and pharmacies.
They recommend wearing cloth masks rather than professional-grade equipment like surgical masks or N95 masks so that medical personnel, who are at the greatest day-to-day risk, have enough for their needs.
The CDC notes that the virus can be spread by coughing, sneezing, or even just speaking.
You can also be a carrier for the disease in the days and weeks before you start to show symptoms.
The CDC's website contains complete information about how to make and use a simple cloth face mask, including no-sew directions for those who don't sew.
2. Practice Physical Distancing
Another basic measure we can take, according to Brian Labus, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Public Health, is to practice physical distancing.
Some of the ways we can do this, according to the CDC, are:
- Stay out of crowded places. While this can be difficult with activities like shopping, some of the ways we can do this include shopping during less busy hours and shopping at smaller, local stores, which may be less busy than larger chain stores. We can also take advantage of online shopping and delivery services.
- Don't gather in groups. In the context of shopping, this can mean designating one person as the shopper and leaving everyone else at home. Keeping the number of people inside the store down makes it safer for everyone.
- Stay at least 6 feet away from other people. While this can be difficult in a setting like a store, Labus suggested it's important to "wait your turn, be deliberate about your actions, and keep your distance from others."
3. Don’t Hoard Food, Water, or Supplies
When we buy more than we need of essential items like food, water, medicine, and cleaning supplies, it creates shortages for other people — including older adults and those who may have an illness or disability — who may not be able to get out and shop as easily as we can.
In addition, it's simply not necessary.
Labus explained that stores will remain open during a pandemic, and there won't be an interruption in our food supply. It's not necessary to purchase more food than normal.
There's also no danger of a water shortage, he noted. A pandemic is different from other natural disasters, where utilities like water might go offline for a period of time.
"We have also seen people stocking up on toilet paper," he said. "While it makes sense to have some spare toilet paper, hoarding has made it difficult for people who need it to find it."
4. Avoid the WIC Label
On March 15, Suit Up Maine, a grassroots progressive group located in Maine, posted a tweet that quickly went viral reminding shoppers to avoid purchasing foods labeled "WIC."
According to Diane Rigassio Radler, director of the Institute for Nutrition Interventions at the Rutgers School of Health Professions, WIC refers to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
This program provides assistance for low-income women to purchase healthy, nutritious foods for themselves and their young children.
Often, these women are restricted to which brands or package sizes they're able to purchase under the program.
During periods of panic buying, when supplies become limited, shoppers may resort to buying whatever brands are still available.
Radler said the aim of the tweet was to educate shoppers to look for the WIC labels and buy other brands if possible so that people using this program are not left without needed items for their families.
5. Clean Your Cart for the Next Customer
According to a recent study, the virus that causes COVID-19 can remain active on plastic and stainless surfaces for up to 3 days.
In addition, it can remain viable from a few hours to a few days on a variety of other surfaces, according to the CDC.
With this in mind, it's a considerate move to make sure we leave our shopping carts clean for the next customer.
If you have access to disinfectant wipes, wipe down the handle of your cart as well as any other surfaces that people are likely to touch.
You can dispose of any used personal protective equipment, such as gloves or disposable face masks, in the trash. You can also place them in a baggie to dispose of at home.
6. Be Considerate of Store Employees
Store workers and delivery personnel are currently working overtime to make sure we have what we need.
In addition, they're putting themselves and their families at increased risk of contracting the virus.
It's important for us all to remember this and treat them with the respect they deserve.
Some of the things we can do to make things easier for them are:
- Buy only the essentials. While we're all going a bit stir-crazy at home, now is not the time to crowd into stores to relieve our boredom.
- Shop efficiently. Have a list of what you need. Get in and get out.
- Dispose of used gloves and masks properly. Think of these items as potentially being contaminated with the virus, and handle them accordingly.
- Be polite and courteous. Store employees and delivery drivers are working hard and doing their best. It is not their fault when shortages occur.
The Bottom Line
During a time like a pandemic, your actions can literally make a life-or-death difference to another person.
Following the safety measures laid out by the CDC and other government agencies is an important part of shopping etiquette during this time.
It's also important to consider the needs of other shoppers and make sure there's enough available for everyone by not purchasing more than you need and avoiding products marked with the WIC label.
Finally, treat store employees with the courtesy and respect they deserve. They're working hard and at great risk to themselves to make sure you have what you need.
Reposted with permission from Healthline. For detailed source information, please view the original article on Healthline.
- Here's How to Clean Your Groceries During the COVID-19 Outbreak ... ›
- CDC Gives Guidelines for Travel, Cookouts - EcoWatch ›
New fossils uncovered in Argentina may belong to one of the largest animals to have walked on Earth.
- Groundbreaking Fossil Shows Prehistoric 15-Foot Reptile Tried to ... ›
- Skull of Smallest Known Dinosaur Found in 99-Million-Year Old Amber ›
- Giant 'Toothed' Birds Flew Over Antarctica 40 Million Years Ago ... ›
- World's Second-Largest Egg Found in Antarctica Probably Hatched ... ›
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
A federal court on Tuesday struck down the Trump administration's rollback of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
- Pruitt Guts the Clean Power Plan: How Weak Will the New EPA ... ›
- It's Official: Trump Administration to Repeal Clean Power Plan ... ›
- 'Deadly' Clean Power Plan Replacement ›
Trending
By Jonathan Runstadler and Kaitlin Sawatzki
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have found coronavirus infections in pet cats and dogs and in multiple zoo animals, including big cats and gorillas. These infections have even happened when staff were using personal protective equipment.
Gorillas have been affected by human viruses in the past and are susceptible to the coronavirus. Thomas Fuhrmann via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
- Gorillas in San Diego Test Positive for Coronavirus - EcoWatch ›
- Wildlife Rehabilitators Are Overwhelmed During the Pandemic. In ... ›
- Coronavirus Pandemic Linked to Destruction of Wildlife and World's ... ›
- Utah Mink Becomes First Wild Animal to Test Positive for Coronavirus ›
By Peter Giger
The speed and scale of the response to COVID-19 by governments, businesses and individuals seems to provide hope that we can react to the climate change crisis in a similarly decisive manner - but history tells us that humans do not react to slow-moving and distant threats.
A Game of Jenga
<p>Think of it as a game of Jenga and the planet's climate system as the tower. For generations, we have been slowly removing blocks. But at some point, we will remove a pivotal block, such as the collapse of one of the major global ocean circulation systems, for example the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), that will cause all or part of the global climate system to fall into a planetary emergency.</p><p>But worse still, it could cause runaway damage: Where the tipping points form a domino-like cascade, where breaching one triggers breaches of others, creating an unstoppable shift to a radically and swiftly changing climate.</p><p>One of the most concerning tipping points is mass methane release. Methane can be found in deep freeze storage within permafrost and at the bottom of the deepest oceans in the form of methane hydrates. But rising sea and air temperatures are beginning to thaw these stores of methane.</p><p>This would release a powerful greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, 30-times more potent than carbon dioxide as a global warming agent. This would drastically increase temperatures and rush us towards the breach of other tipping points.</p><p>This could include the acceleration of ice thaw on all three of the globe's large, land-based ice sheets – Greenland, West Antarctica and the Wilkes Basin in East Antarctica. The potential collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet is seen as a key tipping point, as its loss could eventually <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/324/5929/901" target="_blank">raise global sea levels by 3.3 meters</a> with important regional variations.</p><p>More than that, we would be on the irreversible path to full land-ice melt, causing sea levels to rise by up to 30 meters, roughly at the rate of two meters per century, or maybe faster. Just look at the raised beaches around the world, at the last high stand of global sea level, at the end of the Pleistocene period around 120,0000 years ago, to see the evidence of such a warm world, which was just 2°C warmer than the present day.</p>Cutting Off Circulation
<p>As well as devastating low-lying and coastal areas around the world, melting polar ice could set off another tipping point: a disablement to the AMOC.</p><p>This circulation system drives a northward flow of warm, salty water on the upper layers of the ocean from the tropics to the northeast Atlantic region, and a southward flow of cold water deep in the ocean.</p><p>The ocean conveyor belt has a major effect on the climate, seasonal cycles and temperature in western and northern Europe. It means the region is warmer than other areas of similar latitude.</p><p>But melting ice from the Greenland ice sheet could threaten the AMOC system. It would dilute the salty sea water in the north Atlantic, making the water lighter and less able or unable to sink. This would slow the engine that drives this ocean circulation.</p><p><a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/atlantic-conveyor-belt-has-slowed-15-per-cent-since-mid-twentieth-century" target="_blank">Recent research</a> suggests the AMOC has already weakened by around 15% since the middle of the 20th century. If this continues, it could have a major impact on the climate of the northern hemisphere, but particularly Europe. It may even lead to the <a href="https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/39731?show=full" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cessation of arable farming</a> in the UK, for instance.</p><p>It may also reduce rainfall over the Amazon basin, impact the monsoon systems in Asia and, by bringing warm waters into the Southern Ocean, further destabilize ice in Antarctica and accelerate global sea level rise.</p>The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation has a major effect on the climate. Praetorius (2018)
Is it Time to Declare a Climate Emergency?
<p>At what stage, and at what rise in global temperatures, will these tipping points be reached? No one is entirely sure. It may take centuries, millennia or it could be imminent.</p><p>But as COVID-19 taught us, we need to prepare for the expected. We were aware of the risk of a pandemic. We also knew that we were not sufficiently prepared. But we didn't act in a meaningful manner. Thankfully, we have been able to fast-track the production of vaccines to combat COVID-19. But there is no vaccine for climate change once we have passed these tipping points.</p><p><a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-risks-report-2021" target="_blank">We need to act now on our climate</a>. Act like these tipping points are imminent. And stop thinking of climate change as a slow-moving, long-term threat that enables us to kick the problem down the road and let future generations deal with it. We must take immediate action to reduce global warming and fulfill our commitments to the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Paris Agreement</a>, and build resilience with these tipping points in mind.</p><p>We need to plan now to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, but we also need to plan for the impacts, such as the ability to feed everyone on the planet, develop plans to manage flood risk, as well as manage the social and geopolitical impacts of human migrations that will be a consequence of fight or flight decisions.</p><p>Breaching these tipping points would be cataclysmic and potentially far more devastating than COVID-19. Some may not enjoy hearing these messages, or consider them to be in the realm of science fiction. But if it injects a sense of urgency to make us respond to climate change like we have done to the pandemic, then we must talk more about what has happened before and will happen again.</p><p>Otherwise we will continue playing Jenga with our planet. And ultimately, there will only be one loser – us.</p>By John R. Platt
The period of the 45th presidency will go down as dark days for the United States — not just for the violent insurgency and impeachment that capped off Donald Trump's four years in office, but for every regressive action that came before.
- Biden Announces $2 Trillion Climate and Green Recovery Plan ... ›
- How Biden and Kerry Can Rebuild America's Climate Leadership ... ›
- Biden's EPA Pick Michael Regan Urged to Address Environmental ... ›
- How Joe Biden's Climate Plan Compares to the Green New Deal ... ›