By: Mackenzie Vogt
The year 2020 began with the continuation of the Australian wildfires, the threat of WWIII and the release of pandemic: the coronavirus. As new statistics about this pandemic appear each day, the coronavirus is also seen impacting the environment.
Most of what the media is calling “improvement to the environment” is due to the decrease of carbon emission. China was the first nation to have a case of the coronavirus, so their quarantine restrictions began first. Since then, there has been an estimated reduction of 250 million tons of carbon emission in China, according to Benjamin Storrow in an article in Scientific America. As an extension to that, Martha Henriques in a BBC article says that the air quality in China was up 11.4 percent. Christopher McFadelen also supports this in Interesting Engineering by saying the pollution of air in China has dropped 10-30 percent.
There have also been other notable countries and areas that have experienced similar improvements. The pollution in New York City has gone down by 50 percent. Henriques highlights that a related cause could be that traffic is down, and McFadelen also supports this by saying transportation counts for 23 percent of global emission. In addition, McFadelen also talks about how the waters of Venice have never been clearer. Fish can now be seen. This is due to the grounding of water boats.
All these impacts of course are not due to the coronavirus directly but indirectly. The impacts are due to self-quarantines and travel restrictions that haven’t been this extensive since WWII. The restrictions that are in place to reduce the spread of disease are also impacting industries that can be linked to carbon emissions. Industries that have been impacted and also have an effect on carbon emissions are airports and the gasoline industry.
Experts at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research are also discussing the lasting impact that the pandemic will make on the future. They predict that carbon emission will go down a projected .3 percent globally. To put that in perspective, Storrow talks about how during the Great Recession (2008-2009), emission went down 1.3 percent due to the economy. After the economy restored itself, though, emissions then rose to 5 percent.
Carbon emission could bounce back after normalcy returns to daily lives. The when of that will help determine the impact on the environment, but also some believe that behavioral changes could happen. Behavioral changes occur when an outside force changes the way one lives their day-to-day life. So, due to the coronavirus, new daily routines may form, and even after the new routine isn’t necessary, it may stick.
For now though, the improvements to the environment may be a little bit of good in the bad.
*Photo Obtained from BBC
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