Impacts of Lock down on Environment

13 April, 2020

#blog 02

As we all know the world going through a tough time because of COVID-19 and as of now the cases have reached up to 1800000+ .In this situation many countries have announced lock down due to which the world may suffer from economic crises but because of lock down the pollution have started to drop dramatically. It has drooped so much that we can see blue sky, clean rivers and even stars in the night.

lock down of 21 days in India

India is home to 21 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities but because of 21 days lock down vehicles stay off the road, construction is put on hold, and factories stop production, the levels of microscopic particulate matter, or PM 2.5, start to drop.

How Air pollution decreasing because of lock down?

NO₂

 Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂)  - It is toxic gas that is emitted from the engines of cars, buses, trucks and factories.World health Organisation states that if this gas is more in concentration than 200 micrograms per cubic meter than it can cause an enormous inflammation in your breathing pipe which can leads to problems like asthma. So because of lock down in many countries vehicles have stopped , factories are shut that's why NO_{2 in air has fallen drastically.}  

Have a look on various countries :

In Italy 

pollution in italy

In China

pollution in china

In Spain

pollution in spain

In INDIA too various cities have seen drop in air pollution such as: 

pollution on India

Particulate matter 2.5

It is the most harmful form of air pollution. It includes in the category of group 1 carcinogen and it is so small that it can travel from your lungs into your blood stream which will not only cause respiratory problems but also heart attacks and premature problems. 

pm 2.5

It is so deadly that WHO has estimated that every year, world wide more than 4 million people are killed due to PM 2.5 caused heart disease, strokes, lung cancer, chronic lung disease and respiratory infection.

So because of Lock down the level of Pm 2.5 has also dropped and that is the reason you can see blue sky and stars in the night.

You can see how dangerous is air pollution is but sadly people are and government is not concern about this. This also decrease the rate of people dying due to air pollution.

A scientist in Standford university has has done a research regarding this more than 77000 people are saved due to decrease in air pollution.

Not only Air but water of rivers are also becoming cleaner. "Due to stoppage of industrial waste has definitely caused a positive impact on the water of the river Yamuna" said by Delhi Jal Board vice chairman Raghav Chadda.

yamuna river

This is the condition of not only Yamuna river but also river Ganga. Dr. PK Mishra an IIT professor in BHU states that a 40-50% improvement has been seen in the water quality of Ganga. May we should ensure such lock downs every year for a week so that the entire population of the country realize and see how clear can air and water become. 

Climate Change

As all of us are aware that carbon dioxide emissions are responsible for climate change. If you look at the data of where the world wide carbon dioxide emissions are emitted from, then you will notice that transportation  sector has a huge contribution in it.

co2 emissions

 And obviously, during the lock down there has been a decline in all of it- lesser number of cars are plying, lesser no. of planes are flying and so obviously, there is a massive decline in carbon dioxide emissions.

This was all about Impacts of lock down on the environment . If government will take good measures to control the pollution, construct sewage treatment plants in the right manner and make strong regulations for the companies and industries to treat their waste themselves, then this can happen the air and water can be cleaner.

Also read -

Lockdown extended till may 3.
Corona virus has became a global pandemic