A woman prepares to remove her mask for a photo near cherry blossoms at the Yuyuantan Park in Beijing on Thursday, March 26, 2020. (AP Images)
Environment benefits from pandemic
Covid-19 has disrupted every aspect of people’s lives around the world, from minor inconveniences to tragedy and death. The pandemic has, ironically, been good for the environment.
The environment has increasingly become an area of concern for our planet’s inhabitants over the past few decades, and, especially with the boom of technological innovations, we’re finding ways to help Mother Nature after centuries of hurting her. And while this pandemic has been devastating for the humans of this planet, the planet in itself has actually seen positive side effects due to this global event.
With the pandemic having begun to start lockdowns worldwide in February of this year, naturally, staying home meant that many sources of pollution were shut to a halt. Factories weren’t producing anything, and people weren’t driving to work everyday. This all leads to a 50% reduction in air pollution in New York compared to last year’s figures, and an over 50% improvement nationwide in China of reduced N2O and CO emissions. As tourists aren’t taking planes, boats or trains many places either nowadays, this also helps with air pollution.
One thing many have done to stay productive during the pandemic is recycling and reusing old items. DIY projects have popped up all over the internet, from guides to making your own masks to baking bread, all the way to how to compost. This culture of reusing and recycling, while it’s had a boom over the past few years, has certainly surged while Covid-19 does the same.
If anything good could come from the human tragedy of the pandemic, it should be (and rightfully is) the environment’s healing.
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