The world is going through one of the biggest pandemic in centuries. There are many areas for consideration, environment being one of them. Nature provides us with crucial resources required for our sustenance but overtime we have become ignorant towards it, ignorant towards taking care of it. We appreciate the beauty of Earth but never truly think about its preservation. People being so reluctant to the preservation of natural resources and sustainable development that we are facing issues like global warming, air pollution, water pollution and many more. Earth presents itself with great resources but those are very limited and take years to form or regenerate. We are so good at harming the environment and ignoring it at the same time and now it is high time that each one of us should contribute towards the preservation of our nature. The air around us had been very toxic to breathe, due to harmful gases that had been emitted over the centuries. The Earth is facing rising temperatures, which led to melting of glaciers and rising sea levels.
The corona virus pandemic is responsible for millions of infections globally. This pandemic is affecting us in almost every area of our lives. The strategies taken to reduce COVID19 spread include lockdown, social distancing, isolation, and home quarantine. Lockdown was adopted by many governments worldwide. Lockdown has a huge impact on people, many are left with no income but on the other hand there are some positive impacts we should take a look at. One of them being improvements in the health of the environment and climate like clear sky, clean river water, better air quality, spotting of dolphins near Kolkata Ghats, increase in the number of flamingos in Mumbai, Ganga fit for drinking, clear and clean water in Haridwar, reduction in toxic gases like nitrogen dioxide, aerosols, atmosphere ozone, particulate matter etc.
The strategies adopted during the lockdown stopped people from moving out of their houses which have caused industrial activity to shut down, cancellation of flights, and no automobile traffic which is one of the main reasons for emission of greenhouse gases. During lockdown, due to less travel by air, cars, and trains we have seen minimal emission of harmful gasses.
Effect of lockdown can be seen on air quality - lockdown offered a taste of the air we might breathe in, water qualitybecause of the less human interference oceans , river and marine life is also improving, Vegetation – better plants growth as they are getting clean air and water, they are producing more oxygen.
Though there has been a positive impact on the environment due to lockdown there is a fear that once people start travelling we will again face the same environment issues and current improvements might get lost. These changes in the environment can be temporary but we should keep making constant efforts towards a healthier environment.
-harshikaaggarwal@gmail.com
