Is COVID-19 saving the environment?
- The WWF estimate that 60% of the world’s wildlife populations have disappeared in the last 40 years.
- Over 1 million marine creatures die annually from ingesting plastic debris.
- Globally 4.2 million people die due to outdoor air pollution every year.
The global pandemic, COVID-19, has wreaked havoc on the global economy, curtailed travel, and confined humans. Coronavirus has changed how we live for now.
Amidst all this human tragedy, there is a winner,
Mother Earth!
Coronavirus has temporarily stopped our crazy attempt at self-destruction.
For years, humanity has been chocking and killing nature daily. The pristine environment our ancestors bequeathed us is slowly turning into a barren wasteland.
Read on for more Insight on how coronavirus is saving our environment.
Deforestation means cutting down forests to make room for human activities, usually farming or human settlements.
According to recent research contained in the journal Nature, approximately 42,000,000 million trees are fell daily. This staggering number is due to the insatiable appetite for wood and its products by humanity. Furniture, paper, fuel, and the list keeps getting longer.
With a population growth rate of 81 million people per year, space is now at a premium. Forests have to go for humans to live.
In the last 12000 years since the discovery of agriculture, humans have reduced the world’s forest cover by 46%. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that 27 soccer-sized pitches of forests are fell every minute.
Forests are the lungs of the world, and if this trend continues, the earth will soon cease breathing.
The global forest cover standing at 30% is facing an uphill battle in;
- Regulating global warming.
- Preventing soil erosion.
- Controlling floods.
- Correcting climate Imbalance.
- Supporting wildlife and humans.
Globally, 13.2 million people directly depend on forests for their livelihoods. A further 41 million people are indirect beneficiaries of the forest economy.
Forests are the worlds, carbon sinks. Through the process of photosynthesis, plants take up carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Forests are responsible for the production of 27% of the world’s oxygen.
Oxygen generation by forests is crucial for the survival of the world. Greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4), trap heat in the lower layers of the stratosphere, causing a rise in global temperatures. The increase in temperature leads to global warming, which has a domino effect on the environment.
Polar ice caps are melting faster, leading to bigger and more powerful typhoons and storms. More frequent and severe droughts are evident. Flora and fauna are disappearing because of unfavorable climatic conditions.
Trees counter all these effects by removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
COVID-19 has curtailed human activities, drastically reducing the rate of destruction of the earth’s carbon sinks, the forests. Mother Nature now has a chance to breathe again, albeit shortly.
Industrialization is the primary catalyst for the growth of the modern world.
Without Industries, the world would slowly stop. The world economy would crash; starvation will be rampant, and public disorder widespread. The modern world can’t live without Industries.
Unfortunately, the environment has paid a heavy price for the advancement of man.
Industries have led to;
- Air pollution through industrial emission.
- Water pollution through the disposal of dangerous chemicals and Industrial runoff.
- Soil pollution through dumping of hazardous materials into landfills
Air quality has suffered immensely from industrialization. In heavily industrialized countries like China and India, the air quality is so bad that respiratory diseases are at an all-time high.
Every year 4.2 million deaths worldwide result from ambient air pollution. The majority of Industries, transport, agriculture, and electricity generation use fossil fuels for their operations. Fossil fuels have a massive carbon footprint producing millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases daily.
During the Coronavirus pandemic, most Industries have shut down, and there is a marked improvement in the air quality. Air quality, including PM2.5 and NO2 levels across some of the most polluted countries, showed a steep decline.
India’s PM2.5 levels dropped by 22% and NO2 by 15%. In Pakistan, NO2 levels fell by 35%. Bangladesh and China recorded steep drops in levels of air pollution.
The improvements in air quality during COVID19 include,
- Chinas carbon emissions fell by 25% during March 2020. China is the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world
- Reduced electricity demands by the U.S and European factories caused a massive dip in Carbon emission.
- The transport sector that accounts for almost 24% of the global carbon emissions witnessed a significant drop.
This news is excellent for the environment as it slowly starts to heal itself. Unless humanity switches to alternative energy sources such as clean fuel the earth will surely die. The current method is unsustainable in the end.
Oceans and water bodies cover 70% of the world’s landmass.
Oceans are vital for the survival of life; unfortunately, humans are destroying it daily.
Oceans are important because
- Marine plants produce 70% of the earth’s oxygen. Oceans are the globes biggest oxygen generators.
- Regulate the global climate. Oceans contain 97% of the world’s water and hold 54 times more carbon than the atmosphere. Oceans dictate rainfall and the world’s temperature.
- Oceans are a vital food source with fish accounting for 6.7% of global protein consumption. Algae and sea plants feature heavily in coastal diets.
- The ocean is an essential source of livelihood for millions. From fishing, scientists, divers, and the hospitality industry all depend on the seas. FAO estimates that 59.6 million people are engaged in fishing.
- The ocean’s incredible biodiversity is essential for the growth of underwater life. The sea contains thousands of species of different life forms.
- The ocean is essential for global business. Since the days of the Arab, Greek and Spanish merchants to the present day, commerce has relied mainly on the sea. Over 90% of the world’s freight goes by sea.
The ocean is the heart of the world, and everything revolves around it, yet humanity isn’t taking care of it.
Annually 8 million tonnes of plastic are dumped into oceans, and an estimated 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic are currently in the seas thanks to man.
Plastics reduce the ability of oceans to absorb CO2 from the environment, thereby severely disrupting the carbon cycle. With the colossal quantities of plastics dumped yearly, global warming is increasing.
During the corona crisis, many cities and countries have reported cleaner rivers and lakes.
In India and China, rivers have become cleaner because of Industry shutdown. In the last few months of COVID-19, Industrial dumping to the sea has seen a significant drop.
The environment is hurting from the rapid development of humanity. Coronavirus has shown us how much better the world is without pollution.
The world must change tact and chart a new sustainable route to achieve our goals without harming the environment.
COVID-19 could be the angel in disguise sent to save us from ourselves.
