Here’s How The Coronavirus Lockdown Has Affected Pollution Levels In India
As countries all over the globe are going into lockdown in an attempt to decrease the spread of the novel coronavirus and thus lift some of the strain from overworked healthcare workers at least a little bit, there are little rays of sunshine peaking up all over the world.
While some of those rays are quite metaphorical and present themselves as stories about people helping civilization as we know it to keep intact or helping doctors and other medical staff fighting the virus on the frontlines, others are quite literal as the skies are clearing up over places that usually face massive air pollution problems.
A week ago, the Indian government imposed a lockdown on the country to stop the imminent spread of coronavirus
Image credits: Hindustan Times
While a lot of major cities are facing pollution problems on some scale, India is probably more accustomed to that more than any other country. According to the IQAir AirVisual’s 2019 World Air Quality Report, 21 of 30 most polluted cities in the world are nowhere else but in India.
To everyone’s surprise, it brought along a very welcomed bonus and cleared up the skies
Image credits: Hindustan Times
The pollution dropped by 71% even in the capital city of New Delhi
Image credits: AFP
Since the Indian government imposed the biggest lockdown in the world a week ago in an attempt to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, citizens are asked to stay home and practice social distancing if it’s necessary for them to leave home. All the factories, markets, shops and even places of worship had to close temporarily. Most of the public transport was suspended, construction works were halted and the country was left in a temporary stillness it hasn’t seen in a long, long while.
It turned out to be a significant and long-awaited break from suffocating pollution levels and smog lingering over several places
Image credits: Veeresh Malik
The sudden clear blue skies are a major shift for India
Image credits: henry…
Data shows that main Indian cities are recording much lower harmful air pollutants that were mostly released by vehicles and power plants. In the capital city of New Delhi, the level of pollution plummeted as much as 71% during the first week of lockdown, as government data shows.
After all, 21 of the world’s most polluted cities are in the country
Image credits: Ninara
The world’s largest lockdown forced all factories, markets, shops and places of worship to close temporarily
Image credits: ben dalton
“I have not seen such blue skies in Delhi for the past 10 years,” said Jyoti Pande Lavakare, the co-founder of Indian environmental organization Care for Air, and author of the upcoming book ‘Breathing Here is Injurious To Your Health’. “It is a silver lining in terms of this awful crisis that we can step outside and breathe.”
The country has also suspended most public transportation and halted construction works
Similar climate changes were already welcomed earlier this year in Italy
Where air pollution levels dropped significantly over the course of a month
The lockdown resulted in major changes across the country, including one of its best known cities – Venice
Image credits: Marco Capovilla
Canals in Venice cleared up so much, it revealed all the fishes living in it
Image credits: Marco Capovilla
Similar changes were seen in China a couple of months ago
Visual storyteller Nicoco used this opportunity to photograph empty streets in Shanghai and the results were stunning
Image credits: nicoco
Image credits: nicoco
Image credits: nicoco
Image credits: nicoco
Image credits: nicoco
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Clean air does not reverse climate change. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cleaning-up-air-pollution-may-strengthen-global-warming/
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We should be shutting the world down every year for a month to help reduce the pollution poisoning us and the planet.
How about an economic inciative to have at least 20% of a companies workforce telecommute. Could be in the form of a tax credit both for the business and individual.
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Even here in pakistan, im amazed by the difference.I cant believe we miss out on such clear views and fresh air all year round!
Please take these images (as they relate to purportedly having immediately positive environmental effects) with a grain of salt. In Italy, for example, they've said that the reason the fish are visible is NOT because of less pollution in the canals, but because sediment at the bottom of the canals is no longer stirred up and clouding visibility: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/venice-canals-clear-water-scli-intl/index.html. That said, I'm absolutely sure there's positive environmental impact from less human/industrial waste. It would be lovely to think we'd use this moment as an opportunity to change our environmental future for the better. There are SO many teaching/learning moments from this pandemic. It remains to be seen what, if anything, comes of it.
what you see in the first picture of pollution in india is not only a result of carbon burning machines, but also a result of thousands of farmers burning their crops. crop burning is a practise that occurs every year at the end of a harvest so the picture doesn't exactly show the whole story.
The urban elites like to blame this on the farmers, but fact is that Indian cities are full of vehicles diesel generators for electricity and poor people burning plastic trash, because they have nothing else. So it's really a mix of many factors.
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We should be careful about things like global warming. The thing is, people are careless, and just do whatever they want, and don't think that we only have 1 Earth. (And yes, I do know that scientists have found Earth-like planets)
They may have found Earth like planets, but anit no-one ever going to visit them.
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When, if ever, will Indian politicians at the national level implement laws to cut down on air and water pollution?
Climate change is a natural fact of Earth- so climate change will continue of course. The difference is what man DOES influence, and that is pollution. That is what needs to be addressed. Why is it that the US and Canada and other Western countries actually make an effort to combat man-made pollution but China and India and a lot of other countries do not, or at least not to the extent? I realize there is an economic side to it. I also realize a lot of the Western world is guilty of outsourcing our problems- such as breaking down old electronics being shipped from the US to India, for example. REAL solutions need to be found to help the Earth as a whole. Not nonsensical "reduce my carbon footprint" celebs that then hide their limos around the corner to arrive in their Priuses to gala events..
The US made an effort before tRump became president. And US corporations are using COVID-19 as an excuse to try to roll back and postpone even more environmental protections.
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Member Berry: "'Member fresh air?" Other Member Berry: "Oh yeah, I member!"
Let us hope that these people will not accept it going back to the way it was.
Maybe, because of this, measures will be put in place to keep it that way. Wishful thinking?
Why is Greta Thunberg never in India, or China? I wonder why...
How the hell would she get there without flying?
Load More Replies... Clean air does not reverse climate change. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cleaning-up-air-pollution-may-strengthen-global-warming/
Load More Replies... We should be shutting the world down every year for a month to help reduce the pollution poisoning us and the planet.
How about an economic inciative to have at least 20% of a companies workforce telecommute. Could be in the form of a tax credit both for the business and individual.
Load More Replies... Even here in pakistan, im amazed by the difference.I cant believe we miss out on such clear views and fresh air all year round!
Please take these images (as they relate to purportedly having immediately positive environmental effects) with a grain of salt. In Italy, for example, they've said that the reason the fish are visible is NOT because of less pollution in the canals, but because sediment at the bottom of the canals is no longer stirred up and clouding visibility: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/venice-canals-clear-water-scli-intl/index.html. That said, I'm absolutely sure there's positive environmental impact from less human/industrial waste. It would be lovely to think we'd use this moment as an opportunity to change our environmental future for the better. There are SO many teaching/learning moments from this pandemic. It remains to be seen what, if anything, comes of it.
what you see in the first picture of pollution in india is not only a result of carbon burning machines, but also a result of thousands of farmers burning their crops. crop burning is a practise that occurs every year at the end of a harvest so the picture doesn't exactly show the whole story.
The urban elites like to blame this on the farmers, but fact is that Indian cities are full of vehicles diesel generators for electricity and poor people burning plastic trash, because they have nothing else. So it's really a mix of many factors.
Load More Replies... We should be careful about things like global warming. The thing is, people are careless, and just do whatever they want, and don't think that we only have 1 Earth. (And yes, I do know that scientists have found Earth-like planets)
They may have found Earth like planets, but anit no-one ever going to visit them.
Load More Replies... When, if ever, will Indian politicians at the national level implement laws to cut down on air and water pollution?
Climate change is a natural fact of Earth- so climate change will continue of course. The difference is what man DOES influence, and that is pollution. That is what needs to be addressed. Why is it that the US and Canada and other Western countries actually make an effort to combat man-made pollution but China and India and a lot of other countries do not, or at least not to the extent? I realize there is an economic side to it. I also realize a lot of the Western world is guilty of outsourcing our problems- such as breaking down old electronics being shipped from the US to India, for example. REAL solutions need to be found to help the Earth as a whole. Not nonsensical "reduce my carbon footprint" celebs that then hide their limos around the corner to arrive in their Priuses to gala events..
The US made an effort before tRump became president. And US corporations are using COVID-19 as an excuse to try to roll back and postpone even more environmental protections.
Load More Replies... Member Berry: "'Member fresh air?" Other Member Berry: "Oh yeah, I member!"
Let us hope that these people will not accept it going back to the way it was.
Maybe, because of this, measures will be put in place to keep it that way. Wishful thinking?
Why is Greta Thunberg never in India, or China? I wonder why...
How the hell would she get there without flying?
Load More Replies...
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