Kritika Bhau
While newsfeeds are flooded with traumatic Coronavirus updates, it has created hope for the environment.
Air pollution levels in some cities have reduced remarkably as COVID-19 restricts people from travelling. According to a report by Columbia University, researchers in New York found a decline of around 50 per cent compared to 2019.
NASA released satellite readings of air pollution levels in China and Italy which shows a dramatic decline in pollution in the cities most affected by COVID-19. The report states the quarantine in China has saved more than 100 million metric tonnes of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from being releasing in the atmosphere.
The same effects were observed in Italy, the waterways of Venice have reported being cleaner than before in the absence of all the motorboats and gondoliers.
“I’m not certain that this is caused by COVID-19 but this has only happened twice since 1975 when carbon dioxide rose less than the year before,” tweeted Kris Karnauskas, Fellow and Associate Professor of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, based at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Slowing economic activities caused by the COVID-19 lockdown helped lower emissions of greenhouse gases temporarily and the climate is no longer the crisis as the pandemic rages.
Transportation is considered a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which leads to air pollution. Travel restrictions appears to be making a huge difference, as the sky is clearer and the water is cleaner.
On the other hand, COVID-19 is causing panic. In Canada, more than 383,000 people were tested out of which more than 21,000 have resulted positive and 556 deaths have been reported.
COVID-19 is affecting people throughout the world but it is like a wake-up call for us.