{"id":40263,"date":"2020-04-25T08:10:51","date_gmt":"2020-04-25T07:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/?p=40263"},"modified":"2020-04-25T15:11:22","modified_gmt":"2020-04-25T14:11:22","slug":"covid-19-and-its-effects-on-the-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2020\/04\/covid-19-and-its-effects-on-the-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental impacts of COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-40355\" src=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID-19-and-its-effects-on-the-environment1-889x5921-1.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of a power station billowing out smoke\" width=\"889\" height=\"592\" srcset=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID-19-and-its-effects-on-the-environment1-889x5921-1.jpg 889w, https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID-19-and-its-effects-on-the-environment1-889x5921-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID-19-and-its-effects-on-the-environment1-889x5921-1-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 889px) 100vw, 889px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"wpsdc-drop-cap\">A<\/span>s SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus pathogen that causes the illness COVID-19, sweeps across the globe, social distancing measures are noticeably impacting the environment. Consequently, both the preservation and restoration of environmental quality are experiencing a new normal as the pandemic continues.<\/p>\n<h3>Coronavirus and climate change-related conservation<\/h3>\n<p>COVID-19 has heightened wildlife conservation awareness. As\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/podcast\/episode\/covid-19-the-wildlife-trade-and-human-disease\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Scientific American<\/a>\u00a0has cited, wildlife trade secured additional notoriety when the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/onehealth\/basics\/zoonotic-diseases.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">CDC<\/a>\u00a0broke the news of a zoonotic pathogen jumping from animals to humans, causing the current pandemic. Secondly, when the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.avma.org\/resources-tools\/animal-health-and-welfare\/covid-19\/sars-cov-2-animals-including-pets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">American Veterinary Medical Association<\/a>\u00a0announced the positive presence of COVID-19 in domestic animals, zoos and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biotechniques.com\/coronavirus-news\/from-bats-to-big-cats-how-are-animals-affected-by-covid-19\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">BioTechniques Journal<\/a>\u00a0likewise saw captive animals test positive with the new coronavirus. This elevated concerns for sources such as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.unesco.org\/news\/great-apes-and-covid-19-additional-threat-already-endangered-species\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">UNESCO<\/a>,\u00a0,\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0about the future safety of already threatened species, like the great apes who are similar to humans. Additionally,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/animals\/2020\/04\/wildlife-safaris-halted-for-covid-boost-poaching-threat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">National Geographic<\/a>\u00a0raised alarms on poaching proliferation in conservation reserves as rangers and keepers self-isolated.<\/p>\n<p>Should climate change run unabated, future zoonotic disease outbreaks may become the norm, asserts\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservation.org\/blog\/what-does-covid-19-have-to-do-with-nature-these-5-articles-explain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Conservation International<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hsph.harvard.edu\/c-change\/news\/coronavirus-climate-change-and-the-environment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Harvard University\u2019s School of Public Health<\/a>. Given that healthy animals living in healthy ecosystems are robust enough to resist diseases, by minimizing climate change and protecting habitats, we may be able to avoid future pandemics.<\/p>\n<h3>Social distancing has improved air quality<\/h3>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/inhabitat.com\/tag\/covid-19\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">COVID-19<\/a>\u00a0crisis has forced activity freezes. Lockdowns and calls to shelter-in-place have closed schools and non-essential businesses. Minimal activity from industrial sites, factories and construction sectors has minimized the risks for toxins to escape, in turn improving\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/inhabitat.com\/tag\/air-quality\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">air quality<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Travel bans have similarly restricted international flights. Canceled conferences, festivals, concerts and other public events have diminished interest in tourism, reports the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ustravel.org\/toolkit\/covid-19-travel-industry-research\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">US Travel Association<\/a>. Airline ridership has slumped, and airports are as near-empty as they were in the 2001 aftermath of the 9\/11 attacks. As such, aviation emissions \u2014 which accounted for 2.4% of global\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/inhabitat.com\/tag\/co2-emissions\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">CO2 emissions<\/a>\u00a0in 2018, according to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eesi.org\/papers\/view\/fact-sheet-the-growth-in-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-commercial-aviation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 have dropped significantly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>This is an excerpt from an article originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/inhabitat.com\/covid-19-and-its-effects-on-the-environment\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">INHABITAT<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global responses to the pandemic are having far-reaching impacts on the environment, from heightened wildlife conservation awareness to an improvement in air quality. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":40355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[139,130,534,140],"tags":[25],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Environmental impacts of COVID-19<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Global responses to the pandemic are having far-reaching impacts on the environment, from heightened wildlife conservation awareness to an improvement in air quality.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/inhabitat.com\/covid-19-and-its-effects-on-the-environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Environmental 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