Coronavirus and our environment
11/03/2020
A relatively sombre blog post today. Life has been rather hectic so apologies that it's been a while since my last post! Today I'm taking a look at the coronavirus alongside our environment. Since my last post this virus has caused a big stir all over the world. To date, the coronavirus (or Covid-19) has killed 4,000 people and infected over 116,000. It has caused radical action across the globe, demonstrating how world leaders can and will act upon the advice from scientists to protect the human race.
China was the first country to witness the devastation of Covid-19, which has actually had an interesting impact on our environment. China is the world’s largest carbon emitter and yet due to the outbreak, many factories, workshops and businesses have had to shut their doors. These measures taken to contain the virus have potentially reduced the country’s CO2 emissions by a quarter! Carbonbrief put this into perspective explaining that during a similar period of four weeks in 2019, ‘China released around 800m tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2), meaning the virus could have cut global emissions by 200MtCO2 to date’.-https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-coronavirus-has-temporarily-reduced-chinas-co2-emissions-by-a-quarter</div>
It is too early to ‘know if coronavirus will push global CO2 emissions onto the downward path that is needed if the world is to have any hope of keeping global heating to a relatively safe level of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.’-https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/10/coronavirus-could-cause-fall-in-global-co2-emissions<br>
Ultimately, the coronavirus outbreak has demonstrated that radical steps can succeed. US environmentalist Bill McKibben speaking to the Guardian said that ‘no environmentalist should welcome a crisis, but they could learn from it...It’s worth noting how nimbly millions of people have learned new patterns. Companies, for instance, are scrambling to stay productive, even with many people working from home.’
It is possible, should this trend continue, that global emissions could fall for the first time since 2008 during the financial crisis. The virus has disrupted everything from factory closures, to cancelled flights, school closures to cancelled conferences. It will be interesting to see in the coming weeks and months, just how these changes will impact the output of CO2. Perhaps most importantly, the slowdown in CO2 emissions could buy time for climate change and help to inspire the world to adapt. A slowdown could also give time for developments in technology and for prices of renewable energy to fall.
It is too early to ‘know if coronavirus will push global CO2 emissions onto the downward path that is needed if the world is to have any hope of keeping global heating to a relatively safe level of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.’-https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/10/coronavirus-could-cause-fall-in-global-co2-emissions<br>
Ultimately, the coronavirus outbreak has demonstrated that radical steps can succeed. US environmentalist Bill McKibben speaking to the Guardian said that ‘no environmentalist should welcome a crisis, but they could learn from it...It’s worth noting how nimbly millions of people have learned new patterns. Companies, for instance, are scrambling to stay productive, even with many people working from home.’
Whilst the impact of Covid-19 across the globe is devastating, it is rather interesting to see the ongoing effects of such a crisis on leaders, the public, and the environment of our planet.
I hope everyone is staying safe and well out there. Please do get in touch if you have anything you want to share or chat about!!
I hope everyone is staying safe and well out there. Please do get in touch if you have anything you want to share or chat about!!