What Social Distancing Does to Change the Environment and Global Economy

COVID-19 has had some crazy effects on the world. Factors like the overproduction of gas have been messing with the economy and wildlife has been making a comeback. Before now, the air pollution had been worse than ever. But this has had some strange effects on our wildlife and economy.

Polluted air is highly detrimental to our health. Bad air quality lowers the abilities of the immune system. This can lead to many different pathogens taking over our bodies with little resistance. Reduced immune capacity increase the likelihood of certain complications such as pneumonia after someone has gotten COVID-19. Poor air quality can also increase the probability of getting asthma, heart attacks, and lung disease, all of which can be avoided with better-quality air.

Air pollution can have harmful effects on babies during pregnancy such as low weight at birth and early births. So indeed, pollution is something that we need to keep in check.

Ideas of the Earth experiencing a time of climate change respite are running rampant. And this is true, to a point. Because of COVID-19 and the reduced amount of transportation of goods and people, carbon emissions are projected to drop by 860 BILLION pounds this year (The Guardian).

In addition, committees are hesitant to send out and possibly put in danger workers to mow the ditches. Just the simple act of waiting to mow the ditches has made its own large effect on the environment. Wild flowers are growing more this year, and there has been a rise in bee population.

However there’s a darker story for nature in third-world countries. Wild animals in developing nations have been taking the toll of the lockdown. Animals who need protection against poachers are suddenly left alone without help from the local conservationists.

Not only are those protecting the animals staying inside for their safety, but the tourism industry is failing. Tourism is the number one supporter of conservation efforts. In 2017, sightseeing brought 6.18 billion U.S. dollars to Brazil alone. Without the support of the tourism industry, preservation efforts are falling apart.

Then, of course, there’s the harmful effects of social distancing on the global economy. Car sales have suffered with a drop of 44% with good reason: 83% of road traffic has disappeared.

Manufacturing, which is 11% of the US gross domestic product (GDP) is taking a big hit as less and less people find incentives to buy new goods. This, however, is small next to the 20% of the GDP that investment takes up. Businesses are waiting to invest in anything until they can get a better picture of what is happening in terms of COVID-19.

There have been efforts to remedy this global economic downturn. The US government has put billions of dollars to help grow the movement in the economy, which helps raise unemployment insurance, helping those without jobs to keep going, hopefully until they are able to get a new job.

As everyone keeps themselves up-to-date on the COVID situation, there are also the strange results of social distancing. Air pollution is declining, wildlife is getting both restored and torn apart, and the global economy is taking a massive hit.

When the world bounces back from these unprecedented times, we can make a stand to keep the good things from this time here and help the economy and the natural world recover. We have proven that we can live without many different comforts that have been taken away due to COVID-19, so we can make the effort to stay where we are when the population recovers. ◼️