Covid Lockdowns: Our relationship with the Environment
Pandemic Lockdowns
During March/April in 2020, governments around the world imposed lockdowns to restrict the movement of people, as the coronavirus spread like wildfire across borders. Economic activities came to a complete standstill: workers no longer reported to their workplace; students stayed at home; retirees could no longer go for that long awaited overseas vacation.
All these meant that countries all over the world found it hard to boost economic growth as the production of goods and services fell while tourism revenue dropped to nearly zero. Unemployment soared to an all-time high since the 2008 financial crisis as governments rushed to implement stimulus fiscal policies in an attempt to keep the economy afloat.
Effects on the Environment
However, while the world’s economy came to a grinding halt, many positive changes were seen in the natural world, across the entire globe…
Global carbon emissions have fallen drastically by 6% — 10% for the first time since the Industrial Revolution in the 19th Century. Air pollution has dropped and we can see clear skies in cities usually plagued by haze and smog.
In India…
The Ganges river, usually polluted by the daily activities of the locals, such as bathing and cleaning, have seen oxygen levels increasing by 80%, suggesting that the river is now cleaner and can better support more aquatic plants and animals.
Indians in Jalandhar, a city in India, could see the Himalayan mountain range a whopping 100 miles away, with some saying they haven’t seen the peaks of the Himalayas for decades due to air pollution.
The cleaner air is expected to have many health benefits for the locals as the risk of respiratory related diseases of inhaling too much pollutants will drop.
In Africa…
Reduced tourists visiting the safaris left the African resorts and nature parks empty. This absence has lead to the deafening silence in the park grounds, as there were no more jeeps ferrying visitors around, no more loud tourists chatting among themselves.
A cheetah mum has just gotten a kill. The lifeless prey lay on the ground motionlessly, a deep bite mark on its neck. The cheetah mum makes a high-pitched call, loud enough for her cubs a several hundred metres away to hear but not loud enough to attract other predators. A pair of cute cheetah cubs slowly made their way toward their mum and they feasted on the meat procured by the adult.
Before the pandemic, the noise pollution from travelers drown out the cheetah’s call for the young to come and eat. This results in the cheetah calling their cubs more times and at louder volumes which may catch the attention of other predators which may come and steal the food. The cheetah’s cubs would then less likely to get the nutrients they need to grow up strong and healthy, reducing their chances of survival.
During the pandemic lockdowns, cheetah mums are able to communicate more effectively and safely with their cubs as their calls are able to reach the cubs without compromising their location. With only about 7000 cheetahs left in the wild in Africa, every single cub is precious and every single one of them is needed to ensure the continuity of their species.
In Florida, United States of America (USA)…
The normally crowded beaches of Florida were empty during the lockdown, giving sea turtles a much needed respite. Sea turtles, an endangered species, usually lay their eggs on sandy beaches. However, due to human activities and development along coastal areas, sea turtles find that their breeding grounds are getting rarer and rarer each year.
During the pandemic lockdowns, the nesting success rate for loggerhead sea turtles in Florida have increased from 40% to 61%, the highest ever seen. This gives sea turtles the chance to increase their population and hopefully, to not be endangered anymore.
In Singapore…
The critically-endangered sea otters dared to venture away from their waterway homes, onto parks and even into ponds within homes to feed.
Once thought to be extinct in Singapore, the sea otters have returned to the city-state again. A family of otters were sighted enjoying a meal of koi in Bishan Park (photo above), as the otter population steadily grew with the abundance of food and lesser human activities.
Our relationship with the Environment…
The covid lockdowns will not last forever. While we look forward to the mass vaccinations and reopening of the economies, we must not forget about the huge benefits the lockdown has brought to the environment. The lockdowns have shown that, yes, we can actually reduce our carbon emissions.
It is undeniable that we would still need to prioritise economic growth as the pandemic has also caused economic hardship for many, expanding the ever-growing gulf between the rich and the poor. However, we need to rethink our relationship with the environment. We need to learn how to develop sustainably so that our next generation can enjoy nature and wildlife at their finest.
