Environmental Effects of Lockdown

This lock down has only been for a month and the side effects of improvement in our environment are already visible.  I am not referring to the loss of GDP, Economy, hardship by the citizens, hospitalization bill, loss of jobs, etc, which are very much relevant and important if the country has to survive once we come out of this pandemic outbreak. But I am referring to the smaller side effects concerning changes in our environment due to this lock down. The effects have clearly shown as to what we have lost in our pursuit of progress and GDP and unless we wake up now and take effective measures we will leave our children a place probably not fit ot live. What we are facing now is what our previous generation and we did to harm our environment and what we are doing now will affect the next generation to come.

Air. Within a month of lock down the AIR quality has improved drastically. From Jullundur we can now see Dhauldhar ranges at least 250 Km away clearly when before the lock down we could not even see these ranges from Pathankot which is just 100 Km away. In the night we can see stars in the metros and the air has become breathable again. There is no smell of exhaust gases or diesel fumes, no black smoke coming out of the chimneys of factories.

Noise. Noise pollution is down to a level not known before. You can sleep peacefully at night. The constant noise created by vehicles, horns blaring and the noise of the machinery of factories is missing, no loud speakers and no political or other gatherings. You are no longer required to shout to be heard but even a whisper can be heard at a distance. The chatter of the birds is heard in the morning and evening which was missing so far as the noise had driven all the birds out of cities and now they are back. Measurements taken in cities and Industrial areas show that the noise pollution has reduced by as much as 70%.

Water. Water pollution has improved considerably to the extent that the water of Ganges has become drinkable once again in just one month at Haridwar. Yamuna water pollution has decreased by 30% within a year. Drains are going dry with no foul smell coming from them. But there is flip side also. Too much use of the bleaching agent Sodium Hypochloride as a disinfectant in roads, offices, buildings may cause ground water to become polluted due to this indiscriminate use and may result in increase skin diseases, irritation of skin and eyes, etc, but this effect will become visible only after sometime as climatic changes are gradual and exhibit symptoms after a considerable lapse of time.

All these side effect in the improvement in our environment only goes to show as to what we have lost over the period of time in our pursuit of progress and economy. Of course progress is required and our economy has to progress but what is required is to balance the environmental degradation against the progress. WE need to understand as how much the nature can recycle and anything beyond it will slowly degrade the environment. Once this pandemic is over and we start our daily life as usual we need to sit and seriously thing about our environment and harm to nature we are causing. It would be better to declare an environmental emergency, as some countries in Europe have done, and to put into place effective measures/controls/awareness/regulations, etc, to stop this environmental degradation further and try to keep it to the present  level if we cannot improve it.