COVID-19 & the Environment

Covid-19, or the novel coronavirus, has been one of the worst global disasters in modern history. The death toll remains terrifyingly high and increases each day. However, there are a few silver linings to these grave events. With major factory cities, towns and countries being shut down, the environment has had a lot of time to make small recoveries. 

Multiple countries’ air quality indexes have seen a decrease and the amount of air particle pollutants have taken a dramatic dive. Before China entered their shutdown, they were one of the dirtiest countries in the world. Their air has been extremely polluted due to the number of factories and pollution producing companies and buildings. According to NASA, China also saw the levels of nitrogen dioxide During the Coronavirus shutdowns, the levels of China’s pollutants in the air went down by 21%. India, the 5th most polluted country, saw their particle pollutants fall 60%, a dramatic difference in their air quality. Many photos have circulated around various social medias, news outlets and articles showing the before and after photos of smoggy countries. In Los Angeles, photos taken before lockdown show faint skylines blurred by the amount of smog in the air. However, pictures taken in the midst of Corona lockdowns show clearer skylines and brighter skies. Although, the lockdowns have left  air quality checkers in the lurch as they are currently not allowed to do their jobs due to not being considered essential workers.  

Water quality has also seen major improvements around the world. If you’ve logged on to facebook or Instagram in the last two months you might have seen photos or videos claiming to see dolphins in the canals in Venice. While there weren’t actual dolphins in the boat canals, the water has never been clearer. There have been no boats to add more pollution to the water and the boats were also not able to disturb the water which allowed for fish to come back to the waters and swim freely. Italy has been the main point of source for water pollution quality rising and Miami water has also had clearer water in the last few weeks. Beaches have been closed off in many states, leading to a reduction in human pollutants being brought to the water as well as less trash to be left on the beaches. Although, with multiple governors refusing to close or monitor beaches, these changes have been limited. 

In general what does this mean? The Coronavirus has given countries the opportunity for the earth to heal little bits of itself. But if we don’t keep up with these small changes and world leaders don’t commit to continuing the earth’s survival, then there will be a major lesson that would be missed. The major changes water and air have seen should act as (can’t think of the word) to continue with these efforts. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be getting to Chinese politicians, levels of pollution and air quality have upticked negatively, going back to previous unhealthy levels. We have seen Coronavirus as a major pandemic killing a little more than one million people. To be a little cheesy, the next pandemic has been around for decades, climate change and pollution kills about 7 million people per year and another 1 million animals. We need to treat environmental efforts with the same fervor as we do with battling COVID-19. While there are some leaders who have commited and helped with  major change regarding pollution, it is not enough to increase the life of the earth as we know it. Just because it may not happen in our time, or the following, the next generation does not deserve to be left in a mess that is irreversible.