POSITIVE IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN

    POSITIVE IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN

Hey friends! In today's article, I'd like to talk about something that you must've been witnessing around you during this lockdown How the sky has turned blue (How) the air has become cleaner (How) when you look up at the night sky, you can actually see the stars The air has become so clear that the Himalayan peaks are visible from Jalandhar in Punjab, situated 140 kms away The residents of Jalandhar say that for the first time in 20-30 years, the air has become so clean that they are able to see the Himalayan peaks from Jalandhar Such news reports are pouring in from worldwide The air has become cleaner, the water has become clearer, the pollution levels have fallen So this is what I'd like to analyze in today's article and show you what is the impact of coronavirus and lockdown on the environment? What can we learn from this? And why are economy and environment always seen inversely proportional to one another? that when the economy stumbles, the environment begins to become better Why does this happen? Come, let us see Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) is a toxic gas that is emitted from the engines of cars, buses, trucks and from factories The World Health Organization states that if this gas is more in concentration than 200 micrograms per cubic metre then it can cause an enormous inflammation in your breathing pipe which can lead to problems like asthma Now, due to this lockdown, the number of cars plying on the roads have become less factories have shut down and hence, in the cities all over the world the concentration of nitrogen dioxide in the air has fallen drastically Have a look at the first example in China Look at the levels in the month of January and then look at how much it has fallen in February Exactly the same thing was witnessed in the cities of Europe- In Spain, in UK, in Italy Take the example of Italy- Notice how much of NO₂ was present in Italy in March 2019 and how much it got reduced in March 2020 Exactly the same thing was witnessed in Indian cities too Look at - Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai , Hyderabad You can observe how the NO₂ concentrations have fallen in comparison to 2019 in these cities and if you want to look at the comparison of the past one month, then observe these charts You can notice how gradually, from 17th February until 29th March how concentrations began to decline Particulate matter 2.5 or PM 2.5 It is one of the most harmful forms of air pollution It is included in the category of group 1 carcinogen and it is so small that it can travel from your lungs into your blood stream which will not only cause respiratory problems but also heart attack and can also cause premature deaths It is so deadly that World Health Organization has estimated that every year, worldwide more than 4 million people are killed due to PM 2.5 caused- heart diseases, strokes, lung cancer, chronic chronic lung diseases and respiratory infections Consider it More than 4 million people die because of this Now, due to the lockdown, even the PM 2.5 levels have reduced worldwide Have a look at India's map What was the concentration of the PM 2.5 levels in the entire country on 7th April, 2019 and what was the concentration ( of the PM 2.5 levels ) on 7th April, 2020 It has depleted by a significant amount This is the reason why, these days, you are able to view the clear blue sky in different cities across the country and are able to see stars at night Take a look at this photo of Mumbai You would not even be able to recognize- it seems as if it is a city from a foreign country This tells us how much difference does air pollution make in the beauty of a city But most of the people in our country are not concerned with such issues If a mandir- masjid issue is raised, then hundreds of people would rise up to riot But if air pollution is talked about, nobody 's voice is heard A question might arise in your minds here that if PM 2.5 levels have reduced so drastically under lockdown, then the number of people dying of air pollution would also have become less The lives of people must be getting saved due to the fall in air pollution A scientist from Stanford University has done a research regarding this He collected the data of the PM 2.5 levels in the Chinese cities and compared it to the mortality rates and observed what impacts would falling PM 2.5 levels would have on the mortality rates And this research concluded that the falling levels of pollution in China in just this one month just in this one month More than 77,000 lives have been saved due to the decrease in air pollution It is such a massive number Think about it yourself The total number of deaths due to the corona virus worldwide is around 75,000 right now at the time of the making this  article More than that number of lives have been saved just within China due to the decrease in air pollution Not only the air, but the water of our rivers is also becoming clearer Raghav Chadda, the Delhi Jal Board vice chairman says that due to the stoppage of the industrial waste has definitely caused a positive impact on the water quality of the Yamuna river The best example of this can be seen in photos This is the Yamuna river in Delhi These photos have been captured from Delhi and Noida It is quite unbelievable to see because compare it to how the Yamuna river appears normally These photos show nothing but the future potential If the government constructs sewage treatment plants in the right manner and makes strong regulations for the companies and industries to treat their waste themselves, then this can happen and our rivers can appear this way This is the condition of not only the Yamuna but also of the Ganga river Dr P.K Mishra, an IIT Professor in BHU states that a 40-50% improvement has been seen in the water quality of the Ganga Maybe we should ensure such lockdowns every year for a week so that the entire population of the country realizes and sees how clear can the air and water become They can catch a glimpse of the potential of where our country can reach What do you feel about this? Write down in the comments below This lockdown has probably also caused some effect upon the wildlife and animal life Because a lot of  articles are becoming viral in which rarely seen animals have come out on the streets because the streets are so deserted Although, a lot of these  articles were fake And I am not calling them fake in the sense that they are manipulated I'm calling it fake in the sense that it was not so uncommon for these animals to come out on the streets as the people were claiming it was But you can definitely say that the people were not observing this wildlife Now they are observing more because the roads have become so deserted during the lockdown So it is a good thing that the people are observing the biodiversity in and around them All of us are aware that carbon dioxide emissions are responsible for climate change If you look at the data of where the worldwide carbon dioxide emissions are emitted from, then you will notice that the transportation sector has a huge contribution in it And obviously, during the lockdown there has been a decline in all of it- lesser number of cars are plying lesser number of planes are flying and so, obviously, there is a massive decline in carbon dioxide emissions But how massive ? Experts are predicting that this is the biggest decline in carbon dioxide emissions after World War 2 Approximately, a decline of 5% But let us now move to the unpleasant news Observe this chart This is the chart of the worldwide carbon emissions over the past 60 years You can see that the worldwide carbon emissions have been steadily rising every year which has made the climate change from bad to worse But notice the places where there are drops in the carbon emissions You will see there has been a drop in the 2008 Financial Crisis The carbon emissions had declined then Another drop was noticed in the Asian financial crisis Another drop was noticed when the USSR broke up and the carbon emissions had reduced There was a Second Oil crisis and a First oil crisis- Then, the carbon emissions had declined Are you observing a pattern here? The pattern is that whenever the economy crashes, the carbon emissions go down and then it is a good news for the environment There is an unfortunate inverse relation here between economy and environment When the economy crashes, then it is a good news for the environment And when the economy booms, carbon emissions go up and it is a bad news for the environment Why is this happening? This is happening because our economy is extremely inter linked with fossil fuels Coal, oil, petroleum and all the other non renewable forms of energy They are the primary sources of energy today, which run the transportation sector which run the manufacturing industry which are responsible for the generation of electricity generation worldwide This is the reason why, when the transport industry screeches to a halt, then the carbon emissions go down When electricity demands fall worldwide, then the carbon emissions go down and this is the reason that when the lockdowns are retracted and the world becomes "normal" again, then the carbon emissions and pollution are going to go back up again This is what happened in China as well Their carbon emissions fell by approximately 25% in the months of February and March when they had enforced a lockdown And as soon as they withdrew the lockdowns, by the end of March, Their pollution and nitrogen dioxide levels have reached where they were prior to lockdowns But there is an opportunity amongst this unpleasant news A lot of industries have already shut down and a lot of people have already faced job losses in this economic crisis The government can use this opportunity to push the renewable energy industry When the governments transfer money to the industries to revive themselves again, and to revive the economy again then the governments should focus more on the renewable energy The coal, oil and petroleum industries should not be given a lot of support so that the shut industries remain shut and renewable energy gets a new lease of opportunity It remains to be seen how many actions do the governments take on this and how much pressure does the public maintains upon the governments As of now, it remains so that all the positive effects that I told you about in this  article are all temporary effects for a short term The entire situation is going to revert to the same as soon as the lockdowns are withdrawn The clear air and the clear waters that you witness is only for a short while- enjoy it because as soon as the lockdowns are withdrawn, the pollution and squalid conditions ar going to increase again Except Unless you maintain pressure on the government and give priority to such issues