Natural Cycles and Human impacts
How will the increased rate of lockdowns and closure of business during this coronavirus pandemic impact the natural cycles and their Human impacts? Consider one of the natural cycles,
The coronavirus has indeed created havoc in many parts of the world. However, it has brought positive impacts when it comes to environmental conservation. It is seen that there is a reduced level of substance releases into the environment. Most importantly, the release of toxic substances in the air leading to air pollution has decreased.
One of the natural cycle that has faced this impact is the release of carbon dioxide. The high rate of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses contributes to global warming effects as well as air pollution (Nunez, 2019). With the lockdowns and shutdowns of industries, there have been reduced positive changes in the environment. Alongside carbon dioxide, is the emission of Nitrogen dioxide. With the closure of factories and lockdowns, their emissions have decreased significantly.
Hence, the natural cycle of Nitrogen oxide has been hampered. However, its impacts on humans have been significant. In China, for instance, during the lockdown period, the air was turning into free air due to reduced air pollutants in the air. The rainwater in this period has been perceived to be very clean, unlike in the past. Besides, there has been a significant reduction of global warming due to the reduced emission of greenhouse gases into the air, particularly carbon dioxide (McKay, 2020).
Nevertheless, the challenge we are facing as a community is the way we can maintain such fresh states of an environment as the lockdowns are being down away with slowly. This is because people are returning to their regular business as usual and turning back to the older dangerous cycle. In my opinion, the implementation of policies that regulate various human activities is the only approach, although it should be done with a serious and tough approach. Considering that business has to turn back to the normal state, innovation and creativity is the best solution also. In terms of the release of such wastes into the environment, there is a need to find ways such wastes can be converted into non-toxic substances so that when released into the environment, they will not lead to environmental pollution.
References
Nunez, C. (2019). Air Pollution Causes, Effects, and Solutions. Retrieved 15 April 2020, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/pollution/
McKay, H. (2020). These satellite photos show how COVID-19 lockdowns have impacted global emissions. Retrieved 15 April 2020, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/emissions-impact-coronavirus-lockdowns-satellites/