By: Amna Hasan
Coronavirus is taking over the world, trapping us in the safety of our homes, disturbing the world economy, and is responsible for 30,000+ deaths worldwide. Despite causing several catastrophes around the world, COVID-19 has seemed to impact the environment positively around the world.
Some people have come up with the theory that when humankind causes trouble, Mother Nature takes things into her own hands. So based on this theory, some people believe that coronavirus is Mother Nature’s way of reversing climate change.
As the virus has traveled and spread in countries, domestic and international air travel has been ceased at the moment and that has led to a decrease in carbon emissions (around 25 %!) by planes, cars, and other vehicles. Traffic congestion has also reduced almost by half in states like Seattle and the air quality has improved. Although greenhouse house gases have not decreased as of now but will soon decline.
Not only have the carbon emissions decreased but the use of natural resources has declined due to the fall in the number of trips for grocery shopping, jobs, and leisure trips. Furthermore, the consumption of fuel by planes, ships, and trains have reduced significantly due to the imposition of the lockdown and fear of infection of coronavirus. This has helped in conserving non-renewable resources.
While there is a decrease in pollution however there has been a significant rise in medical waste and leftover packaging from online shopping. There has even has been a ban (in a few states of U.S.) on reusable bags to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Moreover, food packaging has also increased especially for packed mandarins by 111 %! On the other hand, food wastage by hotels and restaurants has decreased.
You may have seen videos and memes on how dolphins have returned to Venice’s canals. Unfortunately, it is fake news. However, there have been multiple reports on animals walking on the roads and beaches in Japan and Pakistan. Although sea-animals may have not returned to canals, lockdowns have helped in reducing the number of insect-harming activities.
More energy is being used for Wi-Fi and electricity as people are locked within their homes. This has increased the energy consumption by individuals. However the energy used in the workplaces and factories has fallen naturally so the energy consumption, in general, hasn’t increased, but instead is being used in other sectors.
We can however execute ways after the lockdown which are more eco-friendly by minimizing plastic use and can switch to reusable materials to reduce waste as much as possible (zero waste).
After the implementation of lockdowns, we have realized how almost half of the jobs do not require employees going to their office regularly which saves transportation costs and helps reduces air pollution and traffic congestion.
So after looking at different impacts of coronavirus, has it affected the environment positively or negatively? This is a topic up for debate.
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