Graphic by Karina Wu ’22
by Meryl Phair ’21
Environmental Editor
The coronavirus pandemic has affected our environment, producing positive outcomes as well as changes that present further challenges to the preservation of our natural world.
Limited travel and the slowing of economic activity have led to a reduction of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale. Data recorded between January and March 2020 by China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment shows an 84.5 percent increase in days with good air quality in 337 cities in China.
Improved air quality around the world has allowed cities like Jalandhar, India to see the usually obfuscated snow-capped Dhauladhar mountain range, and residents of Delhi have been able to see a blue sky during the day. An improvement in air quality is also directly connected to an improvement in public health. One recent study by Marshall Burke, a researcher at Stanford University, calculated that two months of pollution reduction in China had a subsequent effect on mortality, likely saving the lives of 4,000 children under 5 and 73,000 adults over 70.
Many major cities have seen sharp drops in carbon emissions. For example, New York’s carbon monoxide emissions were reduced by almost 50 percent compared to results from 2019. Global carbon emissions were projected to be on the rise this year; however, the Global Carbon Project said they may fall as much as five percent, equivalent to a reduction of 2.5 billion tons. Currently, researchers are projecting that COVID-19 could result in the largest reduction in emissions connected to human activity since World War II.
The pandemic has also offered a welcoming respite for wildlife, with many animals seen in emptied public spaces in broad daylight. Many public green spaces have also been given a rest from frequent foot travel as people have had limited engagement with the outdoors.
While these initial changes are encouraging for the well-being of our earth, the pandemic has also produced some negative effects.
Many environmentally friendly policies have been rolled back in the prioritization of safety measures. Restrictions on single-use plastics, such as plastic bag bans, have been lifted, and reusable cups are no longer accepted at many coffee shops. Pollution regulations have similarly been relaxed and, in some cases, forgotten altogether. Many recycling facilities have shut down, and takeout-only policies have increased the production of waste.
Students staying on campus at Mount Holyoke after the coronavirus abruptly ended the spring semester experienced firsthand the effects that COVID-19 had on food consumption and waste.
Michelle Dang ’22 said the Dining Commons’ hours were limited and few stations were opened. She would roam around and ask for what she wanted.
“They put the food in compostable plates and bowls, like the ones used at Kosher,” Dang said. “They have a table where you can come grab plastic utensils and sauces.”
Although the compostable take out items were environmentally friendly, they would still need to be thrown out daily, producing more waste, Dang said. She added that students on campus were not allowed to bring containers or traveling mugs of their own into the Dining Commons due to contamination concerns.
Since the start of the pandemic, there has also been an increase in the number of single-use medical masks that have washed up on beaches, which is both an environmental and a public health concern. This has been an issue in South East Asia, particularly on the Soko Islands on the southwest coast of Lantau Island in Hong Kong.
Director of Research for OceansAsia Teale Phelps Bondaroff said in an article for BIV that since February, instead of finding the usual couple of stray face masks on Soko Islands beaches, they have encountered a tonne (about 1,000 kg). “My colleague found 70 face masks along a 100-metre section of beach on Feb. 28. That was six weeks after the widespread wearing of masks (started),” Bondaroff said.
In addition, international climate meetings, such as the Conference of the Parties or COP26, have been postponed as a result of the virus. These meetings are crucial in establishing new standards to mitigate the most severe effects of climate change. Efforts of conservationists working on the ground to monitor wildlife, as well as those involved in environmental work, have similarly been halted.
With the world’s attention on the pandemic, the climate crisis has been largely pushed out of the news. There are also warnings that once pandemic restrictions begin to lift and the world begins to return to its fast-paced economy, greenhouse gas emissions will skyrocket. Greenhouse emissions in China have been noted to be on the rise, with air pollution in industrial regions reaching higher concentrations in April 2020 than record concentrations from April 2019.
The events of the past few months have shown how intrinsically linked humans’ impact on nature is. Whether these changes are positive or negative, the global response to the coronavirus has confirmed that widespread, immediate action to fight crisis is possible. Climate change is yet another crisis on our hands that requires a similar global response.