Earth Protect Blog

SHERYL DEVORE LAKE COUNTY NEWS-SUN APR 16, 2020 The pandemic and climate change

During the coronavirus pandemic, people are using their cars and flying in planes less, and that translates to less-polluted skies and healthier air. Indeed, copious photos can be found showing skies before the pandemic and after during the shutdown. What’s ironic is that scientists are also discovering that places where air is more polluted could mean more cases of COVID-19. For more information, see https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200406100824.htm

Arthur Wyns, climate change researcher for WHO, has said some parallels can be drawn between the pandemic and other crises the world is facing, such as climate change.


These crises “require a global-to-local response and long-term thinking; all need to be guided by science and need to protect the most vulnerable among us; and all require the political will to make fundamental changes when faced with existential risks,” Wyns wrote in a commentary published by the World Economic Forum. See https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/climate-change-coronavirus-linked.

“In this sense, the 2020 coronavirus pandemic may lead to a deeper understanding of the ties that bind us all on a global scale and could help us get to grips with the largest public health threat of the century, the climate crisis,” he wrote.