The Official Save-The-Planet-Book

The Coronavirus & the climate

Sorry if some of the information is incorrect, at first this topic was a little confusing for me since some articles were saying different things. I've only included information from Ecosia's official YouTube channel and the NASA Earth Observatory website, just to be sure. Written by @Aspenthebibliophile

The World Health Organisation estimates that 4.6 million people die prematurely every year from respiratory difficulties linked to air pollution which is caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Now, during the pandemic it's obvious that people with respiratory difficulties are at greater risk of the coronavirus... especially if they happen to live areas with unclean air.

Stanford scientists recently estimated that the pandemic lockdown in China alone could have saved 77,000 lives by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles and factories.
So, if greenhouse gas emissions had been lower before the corona crisis, there would have been less coronavirus deaths.

Because factories and companies have been forced to pause their activities, nitrogen dioxide emissions over China have decreased, and carbon dioxide emissions have even dropped to 25%!

Does this mean that the environment could be saved?

Well, unfortunately, no. Because only this is not enough on a long-term scale.

Because lots of businesses and factories have been forced to pause their activities they are demanding to be funded by governments. It's up to governments to decide whether or not companies with small environmental footprints get more "bailout money" than the companies that helped cause climate change in the first place. A solution; the carbon tax.
A tax on carbon dioxide emissions. (Companies with small environmental footprints get more "bailout money" than the environmental destructive ones. This way, more companies and businesses will try to reduce their carbon footprint.

Of course, this is up to the governments.

Thanks for reading and stay safe!