Why corona is helping the earth

Social distancing is not only helping us stop the spread of corona but also the spread of CO2. Factories and traffic have been shut down in China and people all over the world are social distancing. Air traffic is at an all-time low and there have never been such empty streets before.

We all know that climate change is caused by humans. But now the human-world is on pause because of COVID-19, climate change and air pollution appear to be too. People all over the world are posting pictures of clear blue skies in big cities like Shanghai, Paris and Los Angeles. How has it come that the only time we see blue skies in big cities is when we are inside?

Transportation is one of the biggest factors causing air pollution, that is because of the fact that gasoline contains carbon and hydrogen atoms. During combustion, the carbon from the fuel combines with oxygen from the air to produce carbon dioxide (CO2. ). That’s a bit technical but it means that driving equals polluting. So now far fewer people are driving, less pollution is thrown into our atmosphere, causing blue skies and beautiful views.

The other reason is that a lot of factories have been shut down. Factories expel greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels, causing pollution. In big cities with a lot of factories like Shanghai, this is one of the reasons for the normally gray skies.

Some people may be thinking, “Isn’t so that livestock also emits a lot of CO2, why are they skies blue if that hasn’t been shut down?”. The simple answer to that is that animals “only” expel 35-40% of the greenhouse gases. Normally that is a lot, but now that all the other causes of air pollution are temporarily eliminated it’s not that bad. (I’m definitely not saying that I support the way we are keeping livestock right now because it’s very bad for our planet!)

That means that only the pollution of livestock and from some other reasons are left, meaning that only about 60% of the normal air pollution is left. That’s a decrease of 40%, the steepest we have seen in a long time. Self-quarantine is literally saving our planet.

I hope that people will see what difference fewer flights and clean factories can make. For now, stay inside and stop the spread of corona and CO2!