{"id":215,"date":"2020-09-25T18:11:27","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T18:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.234.66.145\/blog\/?p=215"},"modified":"2020-09-25T18:11:29","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T18:11:29","slug":"side-effects-of-covid-19-on-environmental-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.234.66.145\/blog\/index.php\/2020\/09\/25\/side-effects-of-covid-19-on-environmental-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"Side effects of COVID-19 on environmental sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We all are well aware of the\nimpact of COVID-19 on the lives of people all round the world. The adversities\nof the pandemic were not just confined to the health of people, but have also\nleft nations economically distressed. Health and economy are certainly the\nareas hit hardest by the pandemic, but the side-effects of the Pandemic are far\nmore versatile than we may think. In an attempt to stop the spread of the\nvirus, almost all nations of the world observed lockdowns. The side-effects of\nCOVID-19 are mostly the outcome of such prohibitions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our lives have changed\ndrastically due to COVID-19 outbreak and just like our lives; our environment\ntoo has been through some significant changes. The pandemic has greatly\naffected our environment in ways both positive and negative. A few months ago,\npeople across the globe were seen sharing images depicting the positive impact\nof lockdown (restriction on human activities and movement due to the outbreak\nof COVID-19 pandemic) on the environment through social media platforms while\ntagging the images with \u201cEarth is healing\u201d captions. The comparative images of\npre and post pandemic environment did spread positivity, but the negative\nimpact of the pandemic on our environment went unnoticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
India Gate, New Delhi, India<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

An image comparing pre and post\nlockdown sky in Delhi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Positive impacts of COVID -19 on the environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reduced GHG emission<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strict lockdowns were imposed in\nmany countries in an attempt to control the spread of COVID-19 virus. Consequently,\nmost industrial and commercial units were shut down and travelling was\nprohibited. People were forced to stay at home and there was a sharp decline in\nthe use of private and public means of transportation. This led to a\nsignificant reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases and air pollution. Studies\nreveal that lockdown due to COVID \u2013 19 caused 17% decline in carbon emissions\nper day, globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reduced energy consumption<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closing down of industrial\nbuildings, offices, large public buildings including institutional, educational\nand commercial buildings led to a considerable reduction in energy consumption.\nAs per records, Power consumption in India declined by 14.16% in the month of\nmay as compared to that in may 2019, whereas, power consumption in India dipped\nby nearly 26% within 10 days of imposition of strict lockdown in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reduced consumption of natural resources<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most offices operated through\n\u201cwork from home\u201d method and schools started conducting online classes. As a\nresult, there was a remarkable reduction in the demand and consumption of\npaper. Many People also stopped ordering newspapers as a precautionary measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water consumption also declined in\nsome areas due to shutting down of industrial and commercial establishments.\nHospitality sector requires huge volumes of water, especially for washing and\ncleaning purpose, and closing down of hotels; restaurants etc. saved a lot of\nwater. For instance, the city of Visakhapatnam reports water shortage during\nsummer every year, which did not happen this summer due to low demands from\nindustrial and commercial establishments, as stated by the local municipal\nauthority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reduced water pollution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Water Pollution <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Most industries release their\nwaste water into the water bodies present nearby, causing water pollution.\nIndustrial and commercial establishments including hospitality units generate\nlarge volumes of wastewater due to regular cleaning and washing activities,\nclosing down of these too resulted in reduced water pollution. As per studies,\nthe water quality of river Ganga and Yamuna improved considerably with increase\nin dissolved oxygen and reduced nitrate concentration during lockdown. Another\nmajor cause of water pollution is tourism, which was strictly prohibited due to\nCOVID -19 outbreaks. As a result, pollution of water reduced significantly. Images\nshowing cleaner water all round the world during lockdown, became popular on\ninternet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wildlife<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As humanity was locked inside\nhouses, wildlife started taking over roads, streets, and even residential areas.\nwith restricted movement of vehicles and other human activities; there was a significant\nreduction in noise pollution. Many wild animals and even aquatic animals were\nspotted in places where they were never seen before as there was no disturbance\ndue to human activities. The internet was flooded with images showing unusual\nsightings of animals during lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wild Life – coming out in city areas<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

These changes are certainly climate\npositive, but are temporary at the same time. Once all human activities are\nresumed, the pollution levels are likely to go up again. Moreover there are\nsome negative side effects of COVID-19 to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Negative side effects<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increased medical waste<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The COVID-19 virus has proved to\nbe the most contagious virus so far, spreading all across the globe, taking\nmore than 800,000 lives and infecting more than 20,000,000 people. Many nations\nexperienced state of medical emergency with number of COVID positive patients\nrising rapidly. Consequently, the amount of medical waste generated every day has\nincreased tremendously since the onset of the pandemic. As per a report\npublished in The Times of India, the city of Pune generated 3000kg of COVID-9\nrelated biomedical waste every day in june2020. The figures might have been similar\nor even larger in many other cities of India. This biomedical waste is highly hazardous\nand could cause serious damage to our environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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COVID – Biomedical Waste<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
  • Masks, gloves and PPE kits re made of material\nwhich is neither reusable nor bio degradable.<\/li>
  • Sanitizers are packed in plastic bottles and are\nadding to the increased plastic waste.<\/li>
  • Sanitizers cause serious health hazards like\nvomiting, conjunctivitis, oral irritation and in rare cases overuse of sanitizers\neven led to com, seizure and respiratory depression.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Negative Environmental effects due to\ndisposal of Covid related waste <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The disposal of\nbiomedical waste generated due to covid-19 is causing environmental pollution\ndue to the methods adopted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Incineration<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      In Delhi 70% of\nthe biomedical waste is being incinerated. The process of incineration releases\nharmful gases in the environment causing air pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • Deep\nBurial<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        In many places COVID related\nwaste is being disposed through deep burial. This is adding to plastic\npollution in landfills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        • Disposal\nin Ocean<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Biomedical waste\nis also being disposed in oceans threatening the lives of aquatic animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Pollution Due to\nPlastic Packaging <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

           Apart from medical waste, there is another\nmajor factor causing plastic pollution during the Coronavirus outbreak. Closing\ndown of malls and shops resulted in sharp rise in online shopping which mostly\nuses plastic materials for packaging. Large amounts of plastic waste are being\ngenerated due to online shopping which is disposed into landfills. A study also\nrevealed that 20% of  products returned\nonline, also go into landfills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Reduction in\nreusing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Since the onset of the pandemic,\npeople have started discarding most of the packaging materials, including the\nones that are reusable, as a precautionary measure to stop the spreading of the\ndeadly virus. This again added to plastic pollution due to COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

           All the facts and figures mentioned in the blog indicate that\nthe negative side effects of COVID-9 are a serious threat to environmental sustainability,\nand are here to stay for long, whereas the positive side effects are only\ntemporary and would not contribute to environmental healing for long. There is an\nurgent need to address to the challenges before our environment due to COVID-19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          We all are well aware of the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of people all round the world. The adversities of the pandemic were not just confined to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[53,31],"tags":[13,10,27,54,55,56],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.234.66.145\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.234.66.145\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.234.66.145\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.234.66.145\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.234.66.145\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/13.234.66.145\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221,"href":"http:\/\/13.234.66.145\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions\/221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.234.66.145\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.234.66.145\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.234.66.145\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.234.66.145\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}