Coronavirus and the Environment

Will improved L.A. air quality amid coronavirus last? It’s been hailed as a silver lining of the coronavirus lockdown: With fewer cars on the road, air quality has improved, bringing clearer skies to cities across the world.

Los Angeles had its longest streak of good air days in decades, and social media is full of photos of an unusually crisp skyline. “Coronavirus Got Rid of Smog,” proclaimed a headline in the Wall Street Journal. So has L.A. smog been eliminated? Not exactly. While there is no question the restrictions to stem the pandemic have reduced air pollution, the coronavirus lockdown does not bear full responsibility for the weeks of clean air Californians have enjoyed.

“We have the readings that show us that the air has been better, and presumably it’s not a coincidence that it happens at the same time that people are sheltering in place and the economy is at a fraction of its normal activity,” said Mary Nichols, who chairs the California Air Resources Board. L.A.' (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times) How can that be? Coronavirus's Impact on the Environment [Infographic] As the coronavirus pandemic unfolds across the globe, threatening lives and upending the world economy, it’s also had a profound impact on the environment.

Scientists first noticed a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions in China, where the pandemic began. This trend followed the pandemic’s spread across the world. Meanwhile, viral social media posts started to pop up about wildlife sightings in urban areas, claiming “nature just hit the reset button on us.” Less reported has been the dramatic rise in medical waste and packaging from online shopping.

In this post, we’ll look at the full environmental impact of the COVID-19 crisis to date and what lessons we can take from this tragedy to fight climate change in the future. First, let’s look at the data via our exclusive infographic: Learn how to make an infographic yourself with our step-by-step guide for beginners. So, what do these statistics and anecdotes mean for the environment in the short and long-term?

Table of Contents: 1. Air travel 1. Coronavirus lockdowns have sent pollution plummeting. Environmentalists worry about what comes next. Traffic-free roads, plane-free skies and widespread brick-and-mortar closings have made the planet a beneficiary of the coronavirus pandemic — but only in the short term.

Li Shuo, senior climate and energy policy officer at Greenpeace in Beijing, said it's not time to "pop the champagne corks" just yet. "It's hardly a sustainable way to reduce emissions," he said. Many climate experts spotlighted 2020 as a critical year to take decisive action to limit the worst impacts of global warming. The year started with international attention on catastrophic wildfires and floods. Coronavirus recovery plan 'must tackle climate change' Image copyright Getty Images Tackling climate change must be woven into the solution to the Covid-19 economic crisis, the UK will tell governments next week.

Environment ministers from 30 countries are meeting in a two-day online conference in a bid to make progress on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The gathering is called the "Petersberg Climate Dialogue". It will focus on how to organise a "green" economic recovery after the acute phase of the pandemic is over. The other aim is to forge international agreement on ambitious carbon cuts despite the postponement of the key conference COP26 - previously scheduled for Glasgow in November (now without a date). Alok Sharma, the UK Climate Secretary and president of COP26, said: "I am committed to increasing global climate ambition so that we deliver on the Paris Agreement (to stabilise temperature rise well below 2C). "At the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, we will come together to discuss how we can turn ambition into real action.

" Coronavirus is not just a health crisis — it’s an environmental justice crisis. More than 50 years ago, despite a storm that was brewing in Memphis, an overflow crowd of hundreds gathered to hear a rousing speech from Martin Luther King, Jr., who encouraged the city’s striking sanitation workers not to give up their struggle for safer working conditions and better wages.

“Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point,” he told them, in what would turn out to be his last speech. King saw the workers’ quest as one that aligned with his national Poor People’s Campaign. When King spoke of a human rights revolution, he spoke broadly of seeking justice for people living in slums, for hungry children, and for the disenfranchised. He was fighting so that everyone could one day have a safe place to live, work, and play. He wanted “massive industries” to treat people right. In the decades that followed, environmental justice advocates told us to pay heed to these same communities that King died trying to help. Then, the novel coronavirus struck. What impact is coronavirus having on the world's climate?