Why travel restrictions?

March 17th, 2021

As a reminder from my previous post, here is my current claim: Travel restrictions similar to the ones placed during times of COVID-19 should be re-implemented in the future because they decrease gas emissions and increase air quality. In this post, I'll be exploring why this is a reasonable claim and defend it against counterarguments. My goal is to convince any audience with differing opinions that my claim is a valid one.

As seen in the previous post, the transportation sector contributes about 14% to global emissions of greenhouse gases. Cars, trucks, and planes all contribute to this sector, with vehicles making up about 70% of the emissions from the transportation sector. However, planes still contribute largely. When China reduced its domestic flights by 70% last year to curb the spread of COVID-19, they also curbed their national CO2 emissions by 17%. When cities began lockdown, the majority of populations stopped commuting by car, creating a worldwide trend where nitrogen dioxide emissions dropped dramatically. Nitrogen dioxide, combined with carbon dioxide, can create the smog that commonly pollutes the air in and surrounding cities. NO2 emissions in Delhi, India dropped by 80% when travel bans were implemented. The images below are of Beijing, China and Delhi, India. They show the cities before and after COVID-19 travel restrictions were placed. It's clear that air quality greatly improved due to the travel restrictions.

However, there are obviously going to be many people countering my claim. Why should we restrict travel? The audience reading this post more than likely live in a free country, more specifically America. Imposing travel restrictions would give more power to the government and take away more of our rights. This is true. Additionally, travel is seen to have many proven health benefits. There are studies showing that the risks of suffering a heart attack and depression are lower for women who travel abroad at least twice a year. Traveling can also help lower stress, as travelers have reported feeling more rested for weeks after the trip ended. If travelers also engage with other cultures, a creativity, happiness, and satisfaction boost is bound to follow. However, all of these benefits are only proven true if the individual is traveling abroad; something Americans don't really do. The average American has visited three other nations, two of those three being Canada and Mexico for the majority of Americans. In comparison, the average resident of the UK has visited 10 countries in their lifetime. Basically, Americans are creating more toxic air levels and aren't even gaining the health benefits of traveling abroad, making it a lose-lose situation. The more toxic air levels, caused by the increased nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide levels, lead to illnesses such as pneumonia and bronchitis in humans in the short-term. However, if a human is exposed continuously to these high levels of polluted air, they can experience long-term effects such as heart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases such as emphysema⁵. About 2.5 million people die annually due to the effects of air pollution. Having seen the positive effects that temporary travel bans have had on air quality, I find it a reasonable request that certain travel restrictions be placed in the future as well so that you and other people experience fewer hardships in life.

I completely understand the unhappiness felt by the entire population when travel bans were placed last year to try and stop the spread. I love traveling, specifically to foreign countries, and meeting new people and cultures. Yes, this means I do take planes and have a decent carbon footprint. However, I take at most three flights in a year: one to the foreign country, another to Italy from the foreign country, and a final flight from Italy back home. These planes would fly, whether or not I would take the flight. Taking away this possibility is something I’m completely against. However, I think we can definitely limit the amount of travel everyone is doing. Instead of flying to the Bahamas for spring break and then flying (or driving) to Florida for winter break, just do one of those events. If you already live in Florida, good for you. If you insist that you need some sunshine in the middle of winter therefore it’s necessary for you to fly to an exotic, hot place for both breaks, then just move there. If you live in New York, as I do, and you don’t enjoy the cold, then just move to a warmer place. If you want to travel by car more, buy an electric car. There’s Aptera, this great electric car with a 1,000-mile range and it recharges while you’re driving as well. It costs about $36,000 for the most basic model but I’ll redirect you to their official site if you’re interested in knowing more.

I think I’m going to stick to making an infographic with an accompanying podcast. Hopefully, the infographic will be pretty enough to convince my audience to change their position. Jokes aside, I’m going to be as persuasive as possible in my podcast. This journal post is definitely a baseline, and I’ll try to emphasize the same reasoning in the podcast with more ethos, pathos, and logos.

Sources

1. Alton, Larry. 5 Scientifically Proven Health Benefits of Traveling Abroad. 19 May 2017, www.nbcnews.com/better/wellness/5-scientifically-proven-health-benefits-traveling-abroad-n759631.

2. Callaway, Ewen, et al. "The coronavirus pandemic in five powerful charts." Nature, vol. 579, no. 7800, 2020, p. 482+. Gale In Context: Science, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A618606603/SCIC?u=nysl_ca_guild&sid=SCIC&xid=02ad5b95.

3. Ellis-Petersen, Hannah, et al. “'It's Positively Alpine!': Disbelief in Big Cities as Air Pollution Falls.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 11 Apr. 2020, www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/11/positively-alpine-disbelief-air-pollution-falls-lockdown-coronavirus.

4. Rume, Tanjena, and S.M. Didar-Ul Islam. “Environmental Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic and Potential Strategies of Sustainability.” Heliyon, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 17 Sept. 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7498239/#:~:text=The%20global%20disruption%20caused%20by,different%20parts%20of%20the%20world.

5. Rutledge, Kim, et al. “Air Pollution.” National Geographic Society, National Geographic Society, 9 Oct. 2012, www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/air-pollution/#:~:text=Long%2Dterm%20health%20effects%20from,air%20pollutants%20cause%20birth%20defects.