Light at the End of the Lockdown Tunnel
but I challenge you to step out of your personal reality for just one moment and to look at the bigger picture. How exactly has this virus affected universal issues that lay beyond the comfort of your own life? Let’s look at the environment as a striking example. The coronavirus has brought the entire world to a brusque halt, causing nearly all human activity to come to a complete standstill. If there was ever a positive to take from a dire situation like this, it would be that it has allowed a shallow glimpse into a future with low-carbon emissions and a natural world free of the restrictions and implications of humankind. Research has shown that the over-polluted waters in Venice are crystal clean, the skies over Delhi are bluer than ever and animals that were long displaced from their land are roaming rather boldly through the lockeddown cities. These are just simple and minute examples of how nature gracefully creeps into the crevices of man's neglect in a rather short space of time.
- Lieschen Natus
Positive effects of the Nationwide Lockdown on the environment. It is no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has callously extinguished the majority of our plans for 2020. In the blink of an eye, we had to say a sullen goodbye to hugs from our friends, visits to our favourite shopping malls, weekends at the movies, and so many more social events that are just encoded in our DNA. We may feel as though this pandemic is nothing more than a cloud of misery and misfortune laid over our lives,
More significantly, there has been a major decline in the amount of air pollution present in the atmosphere. According to “infrastructurenews”, the World Health Organization estimates that about 3 million people die every year from ailments caused by air pollution and that more than 80% of people living in urban areas are exposed to air quality levels that exceed safe limits. No more than two weeks after the nationwide lockdown was announced in the UK, NO2 pollution in some cities fell by approximately 60% compared to the same period in 2019. Even here in South Africa, it might be hard to believe, but electricity usage has dropped by more than 7500MW a day due to the country’s energy-intensive mining and manufacturing industries that were closed down. These industries account for about 60% of national consumption and with their shutdown, a major strain was lifted from Eskom’s unmaintained systems. It is evident that the universal lockdowns
