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By Patryk Krych | The World Daily MARCH 23rd 2020
Global Health and Climate Change – The Same Issue?
Climate change was one of the most common discussion pieces in news media in the year 2019. And it seems that 2020 has kicked off with a new centre of discussions – the dreaded COVID-19 coronavirus. However, these topics relate more closely than one would originally assume.
There is no evidence thus far that climate change is affecting the spread of the virus, but there is, on the other hand, quite a bit of evidence to suggest that the effects of the spreading virus -gradual economic shutdowns, reduction in general transport, increase in self-quarantine, among other factors- are affecting climate change.
As a result of various countries shutting down access to social gathering spots and venues, and the many restrictions put in place to limit free movement across the majority of Europe (all put in place as measures to try and quell the virus’ spread) the stock markets are suffering. In what’s been perhaps one of the worst stock crashes since the infamous financial crisis of 2008, the present stocks are seeing the most severe drop in decades.
Fossil fuels are the dominant sources of energy in our modern day, and are also connected as the main issues spearheading the progress of climate change. As such, there’s always been something of a link between climate change and economic activity. And the link is more obvious now than ever before, with there already being evidence of those climate-affecting emissions decreasing over the skies of Northern Italy and Hubei China – the provinces that have been under quarantine the longest, as has been documented by the European Space Agency (ESA).
They noted the lower amounts of the toxic chemical, nitrogen dioxide, over their skies, and explained it was likely a cause of the more limited use of transportation, as well as the shutdown of major leisure businesses, and general economic strike in those areas. Nitrogen dioxide is one of the main gasses released upon burning fossil fuels, and is a heavily damaging pollutant. More on the topic and discoveries can be read here.
The same effects are likely to be repeated all over Europe, as more and more cities, recently including Britain, have started to shut down their venues and limited travel freedom, with schools going into online teaching as a result. According to EcoScope, who have designed an economic outlook with the coronavirus in mind, there is a high chance that this continued course of quarantine and economic collapse could work to curb global emissions. However, they also predict that as soon as the crisis is over (with data from past economic crashes in mind), it is to be expected that emissions see a quick recovery and will eventually continue as they had.
Even before the oil price war that had begun between Russia and Saudi Arabia, It was already predicted that overall oil use would drop in the year 2020, by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
There has been a particular drop in the airline industry – one of the most pollutant industries of the era. According to the IEA, emissions from the airline industry have risen in the past years, and are expected to rise further, having been responsible for 2.5% of global energy-related CO2 emissions back in 2018. With America imposing European travel bans, as well the gradual decline in airline usage overall due to mass country-wide quarantines, the amount of damage done to the Earth’s climate from airplanes as a source is also seeing a plunge.
The COVID-19 coronavirus is a respiratory illness. This means that those most in danger are those with breathing difficulties, smokers, and generally those who breath more polluted air. Diseases such as pneumonia have a strong association with air pollution, along with other respiratory illnesses, all of which put people at greater risk were they to catch the virus. A study was done on SARS – an illness not dissimilar to COVID-19, in which it was shown that those who breathed more polluted air were much more likely to die, according to Environmental Health News, who have expressed their beliefs that climate change and global health shouldn’t be treated as separate issues.
“Our health entirely depends on the climate and the other organisms we share the planet with. We need to bring these communities together,” wrote a member of EHN staff.
Though we lack substantial evidence that climate change could in fact affect the spread of coronavirus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has acknowledged the possibility. “Humans have known that climatic conditions affect epidemic diseases from long before the role of infectious agents was discovered, late in the nineteenth century,” they wrote on their website. “Roman aristocrats retreated to hill resorts each summer to avoid malaria.”
As well as this, the WHO has also stressed the fact that diseases such as malaria, which are mainly carried by mosquitoes, could start to make appearances in the West as well, if the breeding climates are right. They tend to reproduce in hotter temperatures maintained throughout the year, and as recent reports by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have shown: the 2019 Northern Hemisphere meteorological summer (June through August) was the hottest in the 140-year climate record, having tied with 2016.
COVID-19’s pandemic spread is the cause of much tragedy and trauma for many who have felt its effects on either themselves, or close family members. But the quality of our lungs is a great factor in deciding how the virus affects us. The economic downfall caused by the infection will indeed also put many independent businesses at risk as well. There is no brighter side that can be shined on the situation, but perhaps a lesson to be learned. A virus such as this could very well hit the world again in the future – so with that’s recently come to light in mind, how can we prepare for it?
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily
