Willy Swenson
Current Event 13
“Environmental Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic, as Observed from Space.” ScienceDaily, 2020, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201208162957.htm. Accessed 11 Feb. 2021.
As different health and safety regulations keep more of us at home more frequently, COVID-19 has changed the way we live and work. According to comparisons of remote sensing data before and after the pandemic gathered by NASA, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Earth-observing satellites and others, the resulting changes to our actions are already affecting the world around us in myriad ways. The article explains, deforestation patterns in some countries are changing, air pollution is declining, water quality is rising, and since the pandemic started earlier this year, snow is becoming more reflective in some areas. However, Timothy Newman, National Land Imaging Program Coordinator for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) claims,
"But we will need more research to clearly attribute environmental change to COVID". Satellite imagery and Landsat data indicate a decline in air emissions since the lockdown. Because of the COVID-19 lockdowns, manufacturing practices in India, including collecting and crushing stone for building projects, slowed or ground to a halt. One study showed that the concentration of particulate matter (PM) 10, an air pollutant, decreased by around a third to a fourth of the pre-pandemic average in India.
While many communities have been affected negatively by the COVID pandemic, there is a small silver lining to this virus. Our world is recovering from the years of strain and pollution humans put on it. By isolating at homes, we travel less (less emissions from cars), fly less (less emissions from planes) and we work less (less pollution from factories/mines). This is extremely important to our Earth’s environment because we are reaching a point of no return, where our pollution and damage will become irresistible. While quaretning at home is not a sustainable option for human culture and mental health, we learn very valuable lessons from this lockdown: we can improve our Earth’s environment.
After this pandemic is over, or at least suppressed enough to where everyday life can resume, it will be important to learn from our mistakes. Instead of driving everywhere, people need to give public transportation or car pooling a try because this will reduce their carbon footprint. Not only this, we see that reducing mining in places like India can show significant improvement in air quality, so there should be significant research done in ways to make mining a sustainable practice in these areas.
Julia Reich
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology C Even
2/26/21
Link to article
https://bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/
“Environmental Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic, as Observed from Space.”
ScienceDaily, 2020, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201208162957.htm. Accessed 11 Feb. 2021.
Willy’s review of the article, “Environmental Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic, as Observed from Space” was a very interesting read. One aspect well done is the inclusion of an expert on the subject. Willy included a quote from, “Timothy Newman, National Land Imaging Program Coordinator for the United States Geological Survey (USGS).” Experts and scientists are highly qualified in their field and will impact a larger audience with accurate information. By including a quote from Newman, Willy established a sense of validity within his article. A second aspect well done was including scientific terms and defining them for an average reader. For example, he writes, “One study showed that the concentration of particulate matter (PM) 10, an air pollutant.” Even as a high school science student, I did not know what PM 10 was, and Willy resolved my questions by including a simple definition. A third aspect I liked was Willy’s opinion at the end of his article. He writes, “After this pandemic is over, or at least suppressed enough to where everyday life can resume, it will be important to learn from our mistakes.” This last thought leaves an impression on any reader, and I think it is an important belief. Overall, Willy’s article was well written and I was very interested to learn more about the impact of COVID-19 on Earth..
Though Willy’s article was nearly flawless, there were a couple aspects he could have improved on. The first aspect is further explaining a few topics. For example, he writes, “The article explains, deforestation patterns in some countries are changing, air pollution is declining, water quality is rising, and since the pandemic started earlier this year, snow is becoming more reflective in some areas.” It would be much more interesting for the reader if he were to further elaborate on how deforestation patterns are changing, and how much pollution is declining with stats. He could easily do this by a few more extra minutes of research. The second aspect that could be improved is grammar and spelling checks. For example, he writes, “While quaretning at home is not a sustainable option for human culture and mental health.” He could easily fix small grammar and spelling mistakes by rereading his article out loud. Though he had a few mistakes, Willy’s article was very good.
I chose Willy’s article as COVID-19 and its impact on the environment is not a highly verbalized topic. I also thought the word “space” in the title would lead to a good read. I learned that our earth is in desperate need of change, and people on all continents should travel less and recycle more. Reading articles like Willy’s is a constant reminder to do as much for the planet as possible, as there is no second option.
Olivia Cevasco
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology - C Even
26 February 2021
Current Event 14 - Comment on Willy Swenson’s Review
“Environmental Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic, as Observed from Space.” ScienceDaily, 2020, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201208162957.htm. Accessed 11 Feb. 2021.
Swenson, Willy. “Environmental Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic, as Observed from Space.” Bronxville AP Biology, Blogspot.com, 10 Feb. 2021, bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2021/02/environmental-impacts-of-covid-19.html.
Willy’s review of “Environmental Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic, as Observed from Space” provided a silver lining for the Coronavirus pandemic: that Earth’s environments are able to rebound from the strain we’ve placed on them through our technological advancements. Willy’s explanation of how quarantining benefits the environment was concise: “By isolating at homes, we travel less (less emissions from cars), fly less (less emissions from planes) and we work less (less pollution from factories/mines).” His descriptions in parenthesis emphasize how emissions from our transportation and pollution in general are large contributing factors to the declining health of the planet. In addition, Willy does an excellent job providing multiple examples of the benefits quarantine has on the environment, saying “deforestation patterns in some countries are changing, air pollution is declining, water quality is rising, and since the pandemic started earlier this year, snow is becoming more reflective in some areas.” The breadth of environmental categories he uses reinforce the idea that widespread change is occuring to the environment and we can continue the effort to make more sustainable choices. Furthermore, Willy’s connection of this article to life after the pandemic was crucial to tie the current event together and give it meaning. He wrote that “it will be important to learn from our mistakes. Instead of driving everywhere, people need to give public transportation or car pooling a try because this will reduce their carbon footprint.” By telling his readers how we can contribute to reducing our carbon footprints, Willy’s review becomes impactful and sets a goal for us to work towards.
To improve Willy’s review, I’d encourage him to include more statistical data to support the observational data he uses. For instance, when he says, “deforestation patterns in some countries are changing, air pollution is declining, water quality is rising,” quantifying the deforestation change, level of air pollution, and water quality will bolster his argument and provide credibility. In addition, I would encourage Willy to take this discussion further and mention other ways—other than reducing personal transportation—that we can lower our carbon footprint. He said that “Instead of driving everywhere, people need to give public transportation or car pooling a try because this will reduce their carbon footprint,” and it would be helpful to the reader if he listed a few more ways we can reduce our footprint.
I chose to comment on Willy’s review because it’s important to recognize good news while the world is brewing with hardship. In the midst of the pandemic, this review tweaked my perception of the event, enabling me to understand that good can happen in tough times. I was thrilled to learn that there’s a silver lining in the pandemic and appreciate that Willy chose to enlighten us about it. On a personal level, I can connect with this article because my family hasn’t left the house much since last March, so I’m hoping we significantly reduced our carbon footprint and can continue to do so after COVID ends.