GEC WRITHLON

GEC WRITHLON IS THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF GEETA ENGINEERING COLLEGE. BY THIS BLOG, WE ARE PROVIDING KNOWLEDGE REGARDING THE LATEST TECH RELATED NEWS, MODERN ENGINEERING INVENTIONS, SCIENTIFIC GADGETS, AND SCIENTIFIC THEORIES

GEC WRITHLON IS THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF GEETA ENGINEERING COLLEGE. BY THIS BLOG, WE ARE PROVIDING KNOWLEDGE REGARDING THE LATEST TECH RELATED NEWS, MODERN ENGINEERING INVENTIONS, SCIENTIFIC GADGETS, AND SCIENTIFIC THEORIES.

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Monday 22 June 2020

Monday, June 22, 2020

Lockdown and its impact on suppressing pollution and environmental enhancement


The relationship between the man and the environment co exists from the initial periods. 


Humans survive in the laps of nature and continuously interact with it. Nature influences in the form of air that we breathe, the food and water that we consume and also the energy which is flowed. However changes or disturbances made in the external environment not only pose harmful effects but also prove to be devastating in terms of community sustainability.

The multiple societal base structures like religious, agricultural, industrial, aesthetics have been budding during versatile phases of human civilization and these structures represent that human beings gathered cultural resources based on nature. Since decades man (population explosion) has been the source of environmental destruction for meeting its need of urbanization, technological sophistication, industrialization, commercialization and globalization which consequently gave rise to environmental degradation and ecological imbalance which left remark upon the whole world.

These issues cover major concerns like global warming, ozone layer depletion, greenhouse effect, melting glaciers, rising sea level, deforestation, rising pollution, climate change, resource depletion, acid rain, urban sprawl, desertification, loss of bio diversity, water crises, ocean and costal threats, shrinking wet lands, habitat destruction, and lot more.

The current outbreak of corona virus (COVID 19) disease that was first identified on November’2019 in China, which has infected 550,000 people across the Globe as on 28 March 2020 (:Source BBC News). Its spread has left businesses around the world counting cost.  This outbreak has negatively impacted global markets, provided negative recession, change in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth relative to the base line, unemployment, health & mental hazards and mortality (death) across the globe.


With the WHO announcement of COVID19 to be a pandemic across the globe and considering the no of deaths taking place in the countries, most of the nations announced lockdowns to slowdown the dispersion pace of COVID19 as a prevention measure. Indian lock down was enforced at midnight local time (18:30 GMT) for 21 days from 25th march 2020 onwards to break the chain of virus by social distancing.

MEANING OF RELATED TERMS

LOCKDOWN - A situation in which an individual is not allowed or restricted to enter or exit a premises or an area freely because of an emergent situation or crisis.

ENVIRONMENT ENHANCEMENT - 'Environmental enhancement or conservation associated activities' are defined as those in which participation be it voluntary or non-voluntary intends to improve the external environment (either urban or rural)

POLLUTION - The presence, contribution or an addition into the environment of an unwanted substance which has harmful or poisonous effects like health and mental hazards.

CONTEXT

 

Corona virus is posing a toll on people all over the world it’s not just affecting their mental and physical health but it’s also affecting the businesses causing them major losses. However one thing which is improvising with every passing of the day is our environment.
Wuhan being the epicentre of the Coronavirus outbreak is a major industrial hub. During normal situations, Wuhan had a peaking and hazardous air-pollution levels, which has now surprisingly fall down by 21.5 per cent according to data released by China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment. The satellite images shared by European Space Agency and NASA signify that the nitrogen dioxide pollution has come down significantly in the region. Images show a gradual reduction in pollution across many Chinese cities between the months of January and February.

Lowered proportion of tourism in Venice has allowed nature to take control and the water in the canals have got self-cleansed due to which fishes were observed. Less gondola traffic in Venice has caused rehabilitation of aquatic life which was otherwise not visible.

Other Places

Many other regions have also observed significant environmental benefits as a consequence of the outbreak. Researchers in New York reported a 50 per cent decline in carbon monoxide levels, which are caused due to traffic and car emissions. The researchers at Columbia University revealed that the traffic levels in the city have come down by around 35 per cent as compared to the data last year
After the announcement of the lockdown, the sky of Delhi-NCR is pretty clean and air pollution has fairly come down. In the Delhi-NCR area, the sun was visible in the clear blue sky for multiple days after the lockdown
Delhi was recorded with the lowest level of PM10 (micro particles in the air) since August 18 last year. The PM10 level was recorded at 32.7 micrograms per cubic meter at 10 am in Delhi-NCR, the lowest since the minimum recorded at 15.9 micrograms per cubic meter on August 18 last year. The air quality index in the city was 40, which is categorised as 'good'.
However, the experts are concerned and also warned that the level would rise rapidly after the pandemic as the countries will reboot its economy.

NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF LOCKDOWN:

 

1. Denting of India GDP- Worse that India’s 2008 global financial crisis.

2. Push back in international trade

3. Wiping away of equity investor wealth

4. Idealness, sluggishness and mental hazards.

5. Increase in poverty alleviation.

6. Unavailability of resource.

7. It’s more like a ‘life trapped in a cage’.

8. Intense Depression faced by economies.

9. Education which is considered as a monitory asset is being devastated       across the countries.

10. Business winding/shutdown and failures.

11. Increase in number of voluntary deaths (suicides).

12. Unfriendly acquisition and takeovers- for example takeovers initiated by Chinese companies against leading Australian companies and MNC’s  

13. Rising unemployment rate

14. Rising inflation and hoarding

15. Hampering cross national relations

16. Monetary losses

17. Migrants hardships

18. Hardships of daily wagers- in context to zero income, hunger and malnutrition

19. Transportation hurdles for migrants and daily wage workers

Household and care work burden

 

 

GENERAL POSITIVE IMPACTS OF LOCKDOWN:


1.    Revision of basic hygiene practices like washing hands frequently, cleanliness and sanitizing of surroundings and proper coughing etiquettes.
2.    Increased inter personal relationships, love, warmth, affection, affiliation and belongingness between the family members which was ruined with the presence of technological sophistication.
3.    Adoption of more traditions practices like Yoga and meditation over gym exercises.
4.    Rise in immunity boosting diets over junk food and calories consuming diet.
5.    Sparkling creativity
6.    Increase productivity resulting in saving of  time, money and energy

ENVIRONMENT RELATED POSITIVE IMPACTS:




  • Sealing of borders and all unnecessary movements of human and traffic are restricted.
  • Slowdown in agricultural, industrial, construction and commercial activities and pollutants.
  • Improvement in quality air index.
  • Reduction in nitrous oxides produced from car engines and power plants across the blocked countries.
  • Reduction in other harmful gases like sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide which causes greenhouse effect
  • Fall in amount of accumulated wastage, emissions and chemicals into the environment.
  • Aquatic and wildlife rehabilitation.
  • Stabilizing climate.
  • Lowered levels of categories of pollution- air, water, soil and noise.
  • Healing ozone layer. 


Conclusion
It is clearly evident that from the facts and current scenario that if man stays in harmony with nature and other living organisms we can together build a sustainable future. This pandemic has set reset button on most of the things. One major positive effect is that we have started appreciating old values and simple things in life. Human’s retreat from the public spaces has provided co-existence for other living organisms (nature returns). Human don’t own the planet and hence should focus on co-habitation by sharing the ecosystem.
Lockdown has ensured SURVIVAL OF FITTEST intensely
Current situation is proving to be beneficial for the environment, however researchers and scientists are worrying that these facts may get reverse again and would rapidly spike up once things restore to normal. That is something we do not expect, however, only passing time will let us know what we will seek from the future
Our response to emergent situation will shape the climate changes for next few coming decades. The efforts encourage economic activity — the stimulus plans, bailouts and back-to-work programs being developed now — will help forming the shape of our economies and our lives for the foreseeable future, and they will have negative effects on carbon related emissions that will reverberate across the planet for thousands of prospective years.
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AUTHOR:

KUNICA RAHUL NARANG

Wednesday 27 May 2020