Write an article on THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC’S‘IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT’
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ARTICLE ON THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC’S‘IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT
Traffic congestion
With lockdown or stay at home orders in effect in countries across the globe due to the coronavirus pandemic, there’s been a steep decline in travel and economic activity worldwide.
Traffic congestion in major cities fell dramatically as a result. In New York, peak congestion went down 47 percent from the 2019 average on the morning of March 23. Los Angeles experienced a 51 percent drop, according to Fox News and the TomTom Traffic Index.
With less traffic comes less pollutants like carbon monoxide. Of course, once non-essential employees are allowed to return to their place of work, traffic congestion and pollution will rise accordingly. Will there be any lasting effect on the environment?
One clue comes from Wuhan, China where the outbreak began in late 2019. Traffic is still down 50 percent as of late March, even as restrictions have been lifted and employees have returned to their jobs.
Effect on carbon emissions
Has the drop in traffic and air travel had a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions such as nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide?
It appears so. China’s carbon emissions fell by around 25 percent over a four-week period after Chinese New Year, according to Carbon Brief.
One controversial study from G-Feed said that improvements in air quality recorded in China over two months this year may have saved the lives of 4,000 children under five years old and 73,000 adults over 70 years old.
Elsewhere, northern Italy reported a 10 percent reduction in the pollutant nitrogen dioxide per week over the four to five weeks before March 17. The area has been hit hard by COVID-19 and been in lockdown.
The improvement in air quality was even more apparent in Madrid, Spain due to stay at home orders for the entire country. The average level of nitrogen dioxide recorded on March 17 was almost 75 percent lower than the previous week. And in New York City, carbon monoxide, mainly from cars, had been reduced by nearly 50 percent compared with March 2019.
Short-term vs. long-term effects on climate change
Unfortunately, this dip in carbon emissions will likely only last as long as the virus does. Activity will ramp up once the pandemic subsides, creating a rebound effect seen in other crises, says Spanish newspaper El Pais.
The 2008 financial crisis caused a 1 percent dip in carbon dioxide but once the economy recovered, emissions crept back up–at a rate faster then before the crisis.
The bottom line? “We will not fight climate change with a virus,” said UN Secretary-General Anthonio Guterres on March 13.
After all, measures to halt coronavirus’s spread will not have a long-lasting effect on climate change. Structural change is needed. But the fact remains that some pre-existing trends, like the rise of remote work, have been accelerated with the pandemic and will have lasting effects on cutting carbon emissions and slowing global warming.