PANDEMIC With the whole world in lockdown, there hasn’t been much movement outside which has led to various improvements in the environment. the most polluted rivers like the Ganga are now cleaner, the number of suspended particles in the air have reduced drastically that in cities like Los Angeles and Jalandhar, citizens are able to see the Hollywood sign and the Himalayas properly without the smog after many years.
Even after so much improvement in the environment, climate scientists still say that a major drop in emissions will still do very little to slow the pace of global warming. New measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide PANDEMIC were released by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California that shows that the atmospheric carbon dioxide has not increased but has rather increased. The emissions have reached a whole new record with 417.2 parts per million gas molecules n the atmosphere which has broken the record of six decades. That’s 2.4 parts per million above the reading which was in May 2019. The United States national oceanic and atmospheric administration has also confirmed the PANDEMIC reading with a similar reading of 417.1 parts per million. The concentration of carbon dioxide is not the measure of the emissions by industries and cars, it is the measure of carbon dioxide left after the absorption of carbon dioxide by plants and ocean. Earlier the carbon dioxide concentrations were at 290 ppm. It said that these level of concentrations of carbon dioxide has not been as high as they were today in 3 million years.
The increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing the acidity of oceans and is also increasing global warming. Even though the carbon emissions have reduced by 7% of what it was before, it has not resulted in any improvements. It’s been said that the reduced emissions are temporary and that after the opening of the lockdown, the emissions will return to their pre corona PANDEMIC levels in a few weeks. However, this lockdown phase has definitely increased the awareness among people about their environment and has led to many people adopting an eco-friendly lifestyle.
Archit Gupta
Grade XII, Manav Rachna International School, Gurgaon
Archit is an enthusiastic and very logically oriented young man who has a keen interest in global affairs and politics. He wants to bring about change in the society by the power of science and information. He has participated and has also organized various debates related to global politics.
