Air is better, streets are empty, and as usual, the internet is filled with Fake news.
Coronavirus has driven a lot of fake news into existence, and that’s not a secret.
At the time of writing this article, the Coronavirus cases throughout the world have reached a mark of 759,302 cases, out of which 36,432 deaths. So yes, Coronavirus Pandemic is as scary as it sounds.
About Covid-19(Coronavirus)
Last December, in 2019, a new virus was identified in China, which was later called Covid-19(Also commonly called as Coronavirus). Even though everyone normally calls the virus Coronavirus, a thing which one must understand is that Covid-19 is mainly a virus that comes from the Coronavirus family. It’s not the proper name of the virus.
How is it affecting the environment
Covid-19 since then has caused a lot of Intermediate or short term effects on the environment due to an undeniable decrease in air pollution and a decrease in worldwide emissions.
Coronavirus has forced a lot of human behaviors, which hasn’t been obligatory to follow otherwise and has helped reducing emissions a lot.
At the start of the year, as China emissions fell by 25% during the Q1 of 2020 due to the lockdown scenario, and people were told to stay at home accordingly. Coal use also fell down by 40% at China’s six largest powerplants.”Good Quality” air as per the index was already 11.4% better than the same time last year in 337 cities across China, Ministry of Ecology and Environment. In Europe states that satellite images show nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions are fading away over northern Italy. A similar situation is playing out in Spain and the United Kingdom.
“This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event,” Fei Liu, who is an air quality researcher at NASA’s Goddard space flight center, said to the Guardian.
You can also see the significant air pollution in china in the Youtube video below-
Scientists have also found a significant drop in greenhouse gas and other gas emissions in New York Recently, which were caused by the economic and urban activity due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Traffic levels are down 35% when they are compared to levels the same time last year, which has also led to a reduction of 50% reduction in carbon monoxide levels — which shows that cars are the major pollutants in the city. Overall CO2 levels appear to be down by as much as 10% as well.
“I certainly think climate could go on the back burner, and in this case, I don’t think there is much hope that [economic] stimulus goes to clean energy,” Prof. Glen Peters from the Centre for International Climate Research mentioned While speaking to BBC News.
Yes, a global pandemic that is taking the lives of people shouldn’t be considered as a way of bringing change.
However, the questions remain-How long will this economic impact last once things are better if not back to normal?
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