Has Earth Found Its Medicine?
With the international rise of COVID-19, the world was forced to come to a stop. The city that never sleeps is silent, the magic of Disney is paused, yet some still fail to see that this is a wake-up call. After only a couple of weeks of quarantine, there has been a notable difference in the health of our planet. The sky is no longer congested with contamination, the waters of Venice are crystal clear, and statistically, pollution rates have plummeted. It looks like our Earth is finally healing.
China:
Comparison of January 1-20, 2020 to February 10-25, 2020
Source: NASA Handout/EPA
In 2016, the World Health Organization Data Repository reported that there were about 1,150,296 deaths due to ambient air pollution in China, with Swiss Environmental Technology company IQair ranking it as the 11th country with the worst air pollution on the planet.
Pollution levels first decreased in Wuhan due to the coronavirus outbreak but have now decreased in all of China. NASA scientists believe that the dramatic change is due to the cut of greenhouse gases from power plants, industries, and transportation that have resulted from quarantine.
Venice:
While the CNBC states, “The water now looks clearer because there is less traffic on the canals, allowing the sediment to stay at the bottom,” and “the air, however, is less polluted since there are less vaporetti [canal boats] and boat traffic than usual because of the restricted movement of residents”.
Sources:
https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/coronavirus/venice-canals-clear-dolphins-swim-italy-lockdown/
Monterrey:
According to El Norte, the metropolitan area of Monterrey reported bad air quality in twenty-two monitor stations across the city three days before the start of the quarantine. However, in the five days after the start of quarantine, only two stations reported bad air quality.
MARCH 25, 2020
Images Source: INEGI 2020
However, international air pollution organizations such as Plume Labs as well as recent El Norte articles reveal that the air quality for March has been indifferent or worse when compared to the rest of the months, indicating that Monterrey’s air pollution levels also depend on factors other than transportation such as weather and industrial greenhouse gas emissions.
Image source: Plume Labs https://air.plumelabs.com/air-quality-in-monterrey-gLoZ
Although coronavirus has brought incredible difficulties to our world, it has also served as an eye-opener and a reminder of what’s truly important. In the end, our personal health is insignificant if the planet we live in is dying.