COVID-19 lockdown has been very hard for all of us. Watching and hearing about the tremendous pain that the positive patients are suffering through has definitely made me ask a question, “How would our planet react to this?” As people scrambled around gathering supplies due to the forced restrictions, the nature has started healing itself. A nationwide lockdown imposed for more than 3 weeks in India has drastically slowed down the pollution levels of many cities just within 2 or 3 days of the lockdown. Many experts believe that this intervention has helped improve the measures used to combat severe air pollution as seen in the Delhi-NCR regions during the winter months. Satellite data has shown a significant drop in particulate matter or aerosol levels amid the ongoing pandemic in India. Data available from Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) indicate that this drastic decrease in pollution levels is mainly due to reduction in fossil fuel burning emissions.
In Madrid this week, Spain’s Directorate General for Traffic has registered a 14 percent drop in the rush hour traffic. Marshall Burke, a researcher at Stanford University, calculated the improvements in air quality recorded in China may have saved the lives of 4,000 children under 5 years old and 73,000 adults over 70. Even more conservative estimates would put the number of lives saved at roughly 20 times the number of deaths from the virus directly. China is drowning under medical waste produced by hospitals including face masks and single-use tissues. In the city of Wuhan, the volume of medical waste is reported to have quadrupled to more than 200 tons a day. Single-use medical items that have been in contact with infected patients must be burned to prevent further contamination that could occur during recycling.
As countries order closedown of school, shop, factories slowing down the economic activities, have driven down the Green House Emissions if only temporarily. The last time carbon emissions fell was during the economic crisis in 2008-2009. But as the economy picked up, so did demand for coal and other fossil fuels — especially in China, the world’s largest emitter. The carbon emissions in China have dropped down by 25 percent. The reductions for China, though, were short-lived. Nitrogen dioxide levels are increasing again as life slowly returns to normal for some. Reductions in nitrogen dioxide have also been noticed across Europe, but particularly northern Italy, where the lockdown began on 9 March. Venice saw the famous canals clearer than ever, with fishes being visible clearly and swans being spotted. But as soon as the environment breathes a sign of relief, massive wildfires have been sparked by lightning in Northern California leaving at least 7 people dead. Governor of California said that the crews are battling 625 fires across the state and having burned 1.2 million acres of land, these fires prove to be destructive as they have burned over 1000 homes and buildings over the last week. At the same time, the fires are also threatening some of the state’s rarest ecosystems and wildlife. Biologists are watching closely as the blazes encroach on old-growth redwood trees in Northern and Central California, where some giants are more than 1,000 years old and are known by individual names. A larger question arises whether the ecosystem will bounce back after the extreme fires which could result in a terrible change in the climatic conditions. This will also make recovering a lot more difficult. The Australia bushfires which were contained in mid-February and declared over in March, left the eucalypt forests destroyed to the ground making them too dry to absorb the following rainfall. Slowly and swiftly recovering, the bushfires had left almost one-fifth forests scorched to the land. Experts are still wondering whether and how will Australia recover its lost ecosystem.
Lebanon is facing a huge humanitarian crisis following the huge explosion on 4th August 2020 killing at least 200 people, injuring more than 6000 and leaving more than 300000 people homeless. Officials estimate that the explosion caused up to US$15 billion of damage. Damage to the port was expected to exacerbate the economic and food security situation because the port was a major entry point for aid, and Lebanon imports 80–85% of its food. According to the UN World Food Programme, even before the explosion, 50% of Lebanese people surveyed said that they were worried about not having enough to eat. Before the explosion, 75% of Lebanese people were in need of aid, 33% had lost their jobs, and 1 million people were living below the poverty line, and these numbers were considered likely to rise.COVID-19 is posing a further burden. More than 6000 cases and 78 deaths had been recorded by the health ministry as of Aug 8. There were also some concerns about the health of people due to the harmful toxins released by the explosion. Thousands of people united together carrying shovels flooded the affected areas to clear the rubble and wreckage blocking the streets.
As the global pandemic threatened the survival of us humans, we shall not be the one to threaten our nature. Letting it heal after years and years of torturing is one of things we can do for our Mother Earth.
Eunoia 