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New Year, New Year’s Eve, January first; whatever you want to call it. A time of celebration, and a time to make resolutions for the coming year. Thousands of people gather on the streets to listen to singers sing live and to toast to a New Year. Friends and family gather at parties, counting down the last few seconds of 2020. 

But not this year. 

This year, everyone had to stay at home, away from friends and family because of the global pandemic. School went online, forcing students and teachers to have to learn how to use new programs. This generation is the generation of technology, and 2020 really brought out one of the positive things about that. 

Apps like Skype and Zoom thrived this year, with so many people calling their loved ones. In 2020, I realized how grateful I am for the technology that connects people together, no matter how far apart they are. 

After the high Covid-19 case counts in many countries in 2020, everyone is looking forward to beginning a new year. 365 days of new hope that the world will recover. After more doses of the vaccine are made available, the economy will hopefully recover as stores and businesses reopen. However, Environmentalists are worried that the health of the planet will be looked over as people get back together with their loved ones. 

With so many people staying home because of the virus, there were fewer cars on the road, and fewer planes in the sky, and therefore less pollution. More people could see the northern lights, and many countries that were once very polluted could now see the sky. Quarantine did help the environment recover, and some countries have been changing their plans to limit global warming. 

On October 7th, 2020, Canada announced its plan to ban single-use plastic by the end of 2021. Things like plastic bags, six-pack rings for beer or pop, and face masks are a huge risk to birds and sea-life. Animals mistake plastic for food, and they get stuck or tangled in the single-use products, with no way of getting free. Canada’s plan to ban single-use plastics this year is another step towards the Paris Agreement. I’m hopeful that this will bring more positivity to this new year. 

That’s Canada’s resolution, and compared to it, my own is quite simple. Because of quarantine, I had a lot of time to catch up on my hobbies. In early 2020, I got back into writing, and in August, I started writing a fanfiction. My goals for the new year is to finish that fanfiction before I share it on Wattpad and to try and read fifty books. 

There were a lot of negative parts of 2020, but there were many positives to balance it out. Even though I live in Canada, I still heard about the protests going on in the United States. I’m glad that the world is slowly moving forward, each year another step away from racism, sexism, transphobia and homophobia. 

I have hope that the world will return to normal, and that I’ll be able to see my friends again. I hope that once the world does get back to normal, people will come together to help the environment. 

Each New Year welcomes 365 new days of opportunity, so I’m going to try and take hold of the chances that I have so that I don’t end up regretting anything. 

Happy New Year!