Kori Walters
MC201 Contributor
Have you noticed skylines getting clearer? Many people around the world have. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, environmentalists and seismologists have noticed a significant decrease in noise and air pollution on a global scale.
Experts all agree that these changes have occurred because people are being forced to do less. Therefore, our greenhouse gas emissions and the amount of noise we produce have both dropped. So how long can we expect these changes to last?
The most noticeable changes have been in air quality. According to NASA, air pollution in the Northeastern United States has dropped 30 percent.
According to Hannah Ellis-Peterson, in New Delhi, air quality is typically at 200 on the air quality index (a very dangerous number), yet it is now at a healthy 25. Descartes Labs has shown that, between Jan. 1 and March 31, smog has decreased dramatically in Europe. Most impressively, according to Carbon Brief, the efforts to prevent the spread of the virus in China have dropped carbon emissions by 25 percent.
It is not easy to recognize changes in noise pollution without scientific equipment, but seismologists say it has been decreasing as well.
According to Erica Walker, a public health researcher at Boston University, noise pollution has dropped by as much as 30 decibels in some areas. Environmental Pollution Centers have clarified that noise pollution negatively affects the feeding patterns of whales and dolphins. At its worst, it can even cause hemorrhaging in these animals and lead to their death.
As lovely as these environmental improvements are, many scientists have warned that they will not last.
Dan Tremblay, an environmental chemistry expert, said that the environmental benefit of the coronavirus outbreak is necessarily time bound – not a permanent change. Because the changes that have caused this dip in pollution have put a halt to society, scientists have stated that we will need to find a much more sustainable method to cause any lasting improvements.
Tremblay also said that despite the decline in consumption and extraction of natural resources, it is not enough to counterbalance certain large-scale threats to the environment. In other words, when the world is able to go back to business as usual, pollution will be just as bad as before (and getting worse).
However, these temporary changes have made it difficult to argue that we are doing something wrong in our day-to-day lives.
Ana Leticia Batista, a junior earth science major from Belo Horizonte, Brazil said, “Since most of the time, the changes in the environment are not instantly seen, or seen at all by humans we do not have the urge to change or try to save it.”
Batista stated that when the world is not in a global shutdown, people are creating unhealthy living conditions for themselves and all of the organisms on the planet.
“With the reduction or closure of some industries, less pollution is being released worldwide,” said Batista.
These industries are not the only source of pollution. On an individual scale, there are less cars burning gas and less planes on the move. Many forms of transportation that are harmful to the planet, and that are typically at large, are being limited right now.
“The pandemic has encouraged people to connect with our earth and see its beauty. This is already a step towards reversing our damage,” said Lyndsey Bonds, a sophomore biology/pre-med major from Indianapolis, Ind.
Most experts believe that this is necessary because in the United States, many cities do not even have access to curbside recycling. In comparison, according to Day Translations, in countries like Japan, it is illegal to not properly recycle items. Similarly, Kenya enacted an all-out plastics ban in 2017. Plastics (including the non-reusable kind) are still nearly unavoidable in the American lifestyle.
Thea Ebbe Brich, freshman chemistry pre-med major from Slangerup, Denmark, offers these suggestions to create more long-term changes to help the environment.
“We could learn to fly less, drive less, but walk and bike more. Recycle. Buy less clothing or buy clothing second hand,” said Brich.
Brich believes that these solutions would both reduce the amount of pollution produced by factories, limit waste, and decrease the greenhouse gasses being burned by travel.
Bastista offered these suggestions to help the environment.
“We should prohibit plastic bags at stores. Provide recycle programs at the stores and in neighborhoods. Charge industries that do not use filters for their pollution or disrupt the environment in any way. Also eliminating waste and holding corporations accountable for their pollution output, said Batista.
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