Global Pandemic: A Boon For Environment And Planet Myth Or Reality

The novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) which began in Wuhan,present in China, is now spreading all over the world. It made the lives of human beings worse but has proved to be a boon for the environment and our planet . Lockdown because of COVID-19 had a bad impact on social and economic conditions but it had a positive result on the natural environment.

The total shutdown of everything like- public transports, educational institutions, manufacturing units etc. Resultant in decreasing the air pollution , noise pollution, water pollution etc. As per the data released by NASA and ESA, the pollution in some of the epicenters had dropped to 30%. India , the second highest populated nation, has also seen a drop in the pollution level. The Central Pollution Control Board of India’s Environment Ministry has given a 71% decrease in the level of Nitrogen dioxide.

But there are agencies, organizations and institutions which care about such issues named-

• Environmental Protection Agency.
• European Environment Agency; US.
• Environmental Protection Agency; Office Of Environment and Heritage; Forest Survey of India etc.
• We must be thankful for these organizations as these are the ones who are protecting nature to its original state.
• They are the ones who are healing and curing the damages that we have created. And it’s proud to see that such agencies are promoting nature care throughout the globe.

With Air Pollution, the noise pollution was also dismissed due to lockdown during COVID-19. People living in urban areas said that now they can hear bird songs higher than earlier and this is due to decrease in traffic noise. Before lockdown, in the month of February, the standard of noise(day time) was 55 decibels, commercial was 65 decibels, silent was 50 and industrial zone was 75 decibels. In the month of March there was a literal decrease in average noise pollution level that ranged between 0.38 decibels and a highest of 6.8 decibels as compared to February. There was also a large reduction in the month of August because of complete lockdown.

Due to lockdown, the quality of water in rivers, seas, oceans, ponds etc. Purified. As none of the festivals were being celebrated and none  was allowed to go outside of their homes, the least waste materials were thrown into the water bodies which dismissed the water pollution. The water quality of river Ganga has also been purified a lot. On 4th April 2020, at Varanasi Nagwa Nala, the Dissolved Oxygen (DO) values were found to have increased to 6.8 milligram/liters, while on 6th March 2020  3.8mg/l, this was considered an extraordinary improvement of 79% in DO value.