As both industry and transport come to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic, NO₂ emissions can be a good indicator of global economic activity—and the changes are visible from space.
The image above shows the comparison of NO2 levels by CNN between March 19 and March 2020. There is no doubt on how a 1–2 weeks of doing nothing can have a drastic impact on our environment.This almost causes us to stop and visualize our impact on the environment or better yet, the power we have in changing the picture of our environment for the better.
If one of the most polluted countries such as China can yield such positive results in just two weeks, how much more will continued monitoring and decisive measures produce? Not so long ago almost all of us believed that we have passed the point of no return when it comes to the impact carbon emission. It is now more apparent than ever that we couldn’t have been any more mistaken.
This article by no means aims to justify the amount of lives lost and suffering of our fellow human beings for improvement in our climate. We can, however, learn from this unprecedented scenario. We cannot deny that if we continue as business as usual after the COVID-19 crisis, we might find ourselves battling the severe impact of climate change in a similar manner in the near future. But it is encouraging to know that, indeed we have the power to change our own narrative.
Σχόλια