Pandemic as a solution for the Climate Crisis?
Lucia Kobzova / October 26 2020
(3 min. read)
While facing the second wave of the corona pandemic, it may be the right time to ponder what the first wave brought and took from us. In this regard, there are many areas we could be looking at. However, we will focus on one specific area - the climate crisis.
We all saw the pictures showing dolphins returning to canals in Venice and an enormous reduction of CO2 emissions, but is the reality that bright? Did we not forget to look for the part that might be hidden under the surface?
At first glance, it may seem that all the lockdowns corona brought helped the environment. We observed an enormous improvement in air quality. Approximately 4000 children and 73 000 people over 70 in China survived due to this improvement. Some researchers even claim that corona saved 20-times more lives as a result of better air quality. Animals started to return to their original habitats. There was an immense drop in road traffic. At the same time emissions in China decreased by 25%. Moreover, air traffic around the world decreased by 60%. “This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event” Fei Liu, an air quality researcher at NASA's Goddard space flight centre, told the Guardian.
Unfortunately, the reality is not as bright as we might think. One of the direct consequences of the pandemic is a slowing down of export, which means that a huge amount of food products could not be transported and consumed, and therefore the emissions of methane rapidly increased. Methane is one of the most dangerous greenhouse gasses, which is far more devastating to the climate than CO2. Moreover, medical waste in China quadrupled compared to the situation before the pandemic- from 50 tons to 200 tons of medical waste per day. Also, the quantity of waste that cannot be recycled due to its contaminations vehemently increased. In addition, some countries still prohibit eating and drinking in restaurants. You have to take food, or coffee with you- packed in plastic packages.
However, I do not want to bore you with numbers anymore. Presumably, we can see that “the facts” presented by social media about the positive impact the pandemic had on the environment were not completely based on reality. We should be careful with the claims that the corona crisis significantly contributed to the improvement of climate conditions. Yes, the contribution of the pandemic is in many regards highly positive. On the other hand, we cannot overlook the alternative side of this situation. It is often required to look at facts that are not pleasant to read about. Not everything is as it may seem. Every situation has two sides to the same coin and we should never forget that.
The Corona crisis also pointed to the things we should value the most. Things like family, friends, health, or even having the opportunity to spend time in nature. Indeed, this is important, to have a clean planet to live on and share this space with other human beings. We may not have been prepared for the Corona pandemic, but we have been listening to what scientists are saying about climate change for years. This pandemic opened a door to the possibility of change. We still have hope of reversing the course of events. All we need is to unite and act as one great whole. Because only together we can find our way towards a more sustainable future.
Sources:
https://venngage.com/blog/coronavirus-impact-on-environment-infographic/#2
https://unctad.org/news/environmental-impacts-coronavirus-crisis-challenges-ahead
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/01/dramatic-fall-in-china-pollution-levels-partly-related-to-coronavirus
https://www.politico.eu/article/6-ways-coronavirus-is-changing-the-environment/
