COVID-19 and the Environment Updates

Deer in the Streets of Japan. SOURCE: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images

With hundreds of thousands of cases of the Covid-19 virus around the globe, most countries have enforced social distancing. Many people are unable to work, and students have been out of school for weeks now. In these devastating times, it seems nearly impossible to remain optimistic. However, in spite of these hardships, the pandemic has had unintended climate benefits globally. Here’s a look:

• In San Francisco, the concentration of fine particulate matter has decreased by nearly 40 percent in just the past five days

• New York City saw a 28 percent drop of the same particle in the same period of time

• The streets of Thailand and Japan are filled with mobs of monkeys and deer, roaming the empty streets

• A Malabar large-spotted civet, a severely endangered species, was spotted on the streets of India

Monkeys roam empty streets in Thailand. SOURCE: Soe Zeya Tun/REUTERS

Though these times have been tough for us all, we should all do our best to remain positive. The time away from work–or school–can be used to spend with family or to focus on oneself. Remember: we’re all in this together.

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Simran Longia​ is a high school sophomore who is from Clovis, California. She is involved in a variety of clubs and academic teams along with honors in AP classes. After high school, Simran plans to get her degree in political science and eventually work towards becoming a lawyer. As a teen living in the age of climate change, she wants to make a change, starting from her community.