Covid-19 will stick in people’s minds as a pandemic that struck the globe unmercifully, and even the most powerful nations, caught in an unprepared state, were left clutching at straws. The UK alone lost £251 billion in a single year of Covid lockdown. Its only contribution to something positive was the environment when the lockdowns restricted people within their homes, and pollution went down, leading to Covid and environment coming under the light.
The fight against Covid spurred technologically-driven innovations and start-ups amongst individuals, a lot of them had a sustainability factor.
The question is, did the universe emerge as a better and more sustainable place for the human race? What are the positive and negative effects of covid-19 on the environment?
Let’s find it out in this post by looking at the impact of Covid on various types of pollution and wildlife. We’ll also touch down on a few startups that started during the COVID and have the potential to reduce humans’ basic activities’ carbon footprint for a long time in the future.
1. What is the Impact of COVID-19 on Pollution?
COVID had both a positive and negative impact on the environment. The air, water, land, and noise pollution went down due to lockdowns in various countries of the world. However, the medical waste almost doubled.
Let’s have a look at the connection between COVID and environment in this section:
1.1. What is the Impact of COVID-19 on Air Pollution?
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, many countries grappled with aggravating air pollution, overall environmental pollution, and the resulting climate change. It called for a global response.
WHO (World Health Organization) revealed that ambient air pollution kills approximately five million across the globe every year, attributing to nearly a quarter of the worldwide deaths.
99% of the global population inhaled contaminated air exceeding the WHO exposure targets and the EU standards, with the low to middle-income countries being affected the most.
The State of Global Air/2020 conclusively reported that air pollution was the fourth leading risk factor for premature deaths worldwide in 2019, ranking closely to tobacco smoking, high blood glucose, obesity, and unhealthy lifestyles.
The implementation of lockdowns in most world cities reduced transport operations, leading to a drastic drop in air pollution levels. The inhabitants of Northern India could now clearly see the snow-covered Himalayas from their rooftops, situated 200 km away, after 30 years of impaired visibility.
NASA satellite data discovered a significant drop in air pollution in the North East USA and other world regions during the Covid lockdowns. In Europe, CREA noticed coal and oil consumption declining by 37% and, in turn, leading to a 40% reduction in nitrogen dioxide levels and a 10% reduction in particulate matter, saving an estimated 11,000 Europeans from the jaws of death.
According to a study by Yale School of Public health researchers, the strict quarantine in China, reducing air pollution, prevented 12,125 early deaths by May 2020.
1.2. What is the Impact of COVID-19 on Water Pollution?
Due to lockdowns, industries, mining, and other commercial sectors were forced to shut down their activities. As a result, their waste, which is usually dumped into rivers and oceans, reduced, leading to an improvement in overall water quality.
Research in this regard was conducted on the water quality of Damodar, a river flowing across the Indian states of Jharkhand and West Bengal. The river, which was oligotrophic (very low biological productivity) pre-lockdown, became eutrophic (high biological activity) during the lockdown. This means aquatic plants and animals’ populations significantly increased as their habitats weren’t being polluted.
1.3. What is the Impact of COVID-19 on Noise Pollution?
Noise pollution is the third-ranked form of pollution, falling behind air and water pollution. It may be invisible damage, but the disturbances’ effects are unavoidable in both humans and specific wildlife.
As stated in a report published by the European Environment Agency, noise pollution sparks health concerns in the ecosystem. 20% of Europe faces long durations of exposure bringing about cases of cognitive impairment, cardiovascular complications, sleeping disorders, hearing loss, and mental problems.
National Geographic discloses that noise pollution affects not only the animals on land but also those in the seas and oceans. In particular, dolphins and whales are rendered incapable of effectively echo-locating to navigate and search for food and mates in noisy surroundings.
As for birds, noise pollution forces them to migrate to quieter areas, reducing the local diversity of bird species. The pandemic resolved this problem for the betterment of wildlife.
The Covid lockdowns and social distancing marked the beginning of an eerie silence that could only be interrupted by birds chapping or a cat walking by.
Busy urban regions in cities and towns, initially hubs of distractive outdoor and traffic noise, were modified into places with deserted streets, schools, restaurants, and nightclubs. The absence of transportation noise is one of the positive Covid environmental effects.
In one of the studies on the impact of COVID-19 on noise pollution conducted in Italy, 92% of the participants shared that they noticed a reduction in air pollution. This noise reduction isn’t limited to outdoors, one third believe that their indoor noise pollution has also been significantly reduced.
The same pattern was noticed in Dublin as well, where 12 different locations were analysed, and in all these areas, there was a significant reduction in noise pollution.
In addition to noise pollution on the surface, there has been a reduction in noise below the surface. Seismologists are reporting less seismic noise, which means the vibrations in the Earth’s crust. The seismic activity caused by human activities went down by a third in Brussels due to the lockdowns caused by the COVID-19.
Marine ecologists are suspecting that ocean noise has also gone down because of the COVID-19 since lockdowns forced harbour closure leading to a reduction in sea travel and trade.
2. What is the Impact of COVID-19 on Wildlife?
When Covid-19 sprang up, people mingled less and were compelled to restrict their movement within their houses. The dwindling human presence outdoors resulted in a discovery that the fewer the numbers outside, the less the human-wildlife interactions, and the healthier and sturdier nature developed.
Rare species of animals capitalized on the covid-caused lockdowns. Wildlife regained their absolute rights and freedom of movement and built new undisturbed habitats as they were spotted in places they had not been seen in a long time.
A journal by the Guardian displays pictures of grey langurs, deers, sea lions, and lemurs sauntering on the desolate streets of Argentina, India, Chile, and Japan.
In the Bosphorus of Istanbul, unique sightings of dolphins happily jumping and diving into the calm waters were seen, attributable to the plummeting marine trade, and hungry fishermen spending their time at home due to Covid lockdowns.
Albania’s pink flamingoes found a refuge in the tranquil lagoons of France’s western coastline. The flocks grew by more than 30% up to nearly 3,000 new species by April 2020.
Recent research also shows that the Covid-19 travel bans and restrictions greatly minimized wildlife-vehicle collisions and roadkills, corresponding to a substantial 18.9% reduction.
However, since global tourism and wildlife safaris hit rock bottom due to Covid-19, wildlife security took a downturn. Illegal poaching loomed in Nepal, threatening the existence of endangered species.
A study depicted a rise in wildlife killings in Chitwan National Park, Bardia National Park, and Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park during Covid.
3. What is the Impact of COVID-19 on Medical Waste?
The rampant upsurge of covid cases and deaths called for accessible, effective healthcare to respond to the health crisis. Within a short span of time, the whole planet quested for a long-term cure, with the increased caseloads of patients in hospitals and quarantine centres.
The increased requirement for healthcare led to an increase in the demand and disposal of medical equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE), and face masks, the majority of which contain a considerable chunk of plastic.
A certain case study stated that the Covid-19 epidemic generated an increase in healthcare waste by 102.2% in hospitals.
A WHO report added that the excessive medical waste, in tens of thousands, evoked intense pressure on the medical waste management systems, jeopardizing people’s health and the environment.
Between March 2020 and November 2021, 87000 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) were distributed to multiple countries to combat Covid-19. It’s obvious, these PPE became infectious waste after usage, besides the syringes, needles, test kits, and billions of vaccines shipped all over the world.
4. COVID-19 and Sustainable Innovations
To great extents, the Covid-19 period was a moment of despondency and gloom. But looking at it optimistically, it was also a moment of hope spurred by wonderful inventions. Covid-19 was the much-needed catalyst to sprouting the necessary innovative ideas and technology-driven startups.
According to a thorough analysis by the ILO Monitor (International Labour Organization), about 114 million people lost their jobs due to Covid-19 as either the companies and organizations were unable to sustain them or they were unable to do office work. In fact, nearly three-quarters of the job losses were due to the inability to work.
With the social restrictions and lockdowns, It was a matter of finding alternative sources of income and survival that ignited an innovative talent in people. Long-standing businesses to small corner shops were on the verge of collapsing and were forced to adopt fundamental shifts in their business activities in a bid to prevent bankruptcy and eventually shutting down. But above all, it was a means to live with the virus and run things safely and effectively while gradually embracing the new normalcy.
Inn and Oops! food clearance are some of the brilliant pandemic-agitated tech startups. India’s ‘Recycle Man’, Binish Desai, has turned face masks into bricks.
The UK-based online grocer, Inn, provides a zero-waste door delivery of groceries and cleaning agents. Its motive is to instil a greener and simpler living into the ecosystem. They deliver everything using reusable easy-to-empty packaging, upon a client’s order, which is collected on the next delivery and re-used, lessening the amount of plastic waste that goes into litter bins and landfills. The delivery man rides a bicycle to get your order at your doorstep or an alternative place of your convenience.
Oops! Food Clearance aims to reduce food waste from food-manufacturing companies. Their market strategy is quite simple. They take the surplus items from the manufacturers that could have gone to waste, repackage at their own factory, and sell them at much lower prices. In case you don’t like the quality of their products, you’re happily refunded.
India’s Recycle Man, Binish Desai, is turning facemasks into bricks, termed the Brick 2.0. Different organisations subscribe to his recycling campaign and collect face masks in a face mask recycling basket provided by Binish. He then collects them, keeps them sealed for 72 hours, disinfects them, and merges them with a binder to turn them into an eco-friendly brick.
If you want to learn more about sustainable innovations in 2022, then head over to Sustainable Innovation | 6 Green Areas to Look Out For in 2022.
This is our take on Covid and environment. Even though it wreaked havoc on humanity, and by no means are we supporting it, it did highlight the fact that we humans are destroying our planet. There are very few negative impacts of COVID-19 on the environment, with the major one being medical waste. All in all, we should take notes from these tough times, and improve the way we live to counter the looming climate crisis.