Chalk Up Another Benefit to the Big Lockdown…

Barring low gas prices you couldn’t take advantage of and your author’s adventures in cooking with curry, the past two months didn’t bring much in the way of benefits. Millions are out of work, nerves are frayed, hospital ICUs remain crowded with COVID-19 patients, and bad takes still run rampant on Twitter. Daily!

Anyone who did venture outdoors this spring, however, may have noticed one specific change for the better, and science now backs it up.

The air. Fresh, springtime scented, dangerous droplet carrying air. Turns out it was fresher than before, and not just because leaving the house distanced your olfactory senses from laundry pushed well beyond its best-before date.

According to readings taken in April by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), air quality improved drastically during the height of the nation’s lockdown measures. Pollutants found in abundance flowing from internal combustion vehicles’ tailpipes tapered off, leaving a noticeable change in the smog levels of certain locales. Photos from around the globe soon contrasted the “before” and “after” of the situation, with heavily polluted cities revealing far more of their skyline to distant viewers. In some cases, mountains appeared on the horizon for the first time in ages.

Thanks to this, a plethora of nearly identical “nature is healing” social media posts quickly turned the phrase into a meme.

The NOAA’s COVID Air Quality Study looked into two regions: the crowded Northeast and urban Colorado. As reported by Reuters, the study — which amassed air quality data from ground monitors, airplanes, and satellites — revealed a sizable decrease in lung irritants and greenhouse gases.

Between Boston and Washington, DC, levels of smog-forming nitrogen oxide fell an average of 25 to 30 percent compared to normal, with carbon dioxide levels down 15 to 20 percent. That’s with road traffic down by about half.

In Colorado, where cities huddle together for safety and warmth, urban nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide levels fell 30 percent, the study found. Other bad organic emissions saw their numbers halved.

While the study shows the scale of the lockdowns, it also hands eco types a bucket of data with which to advocate for less fossil fuel use — especially as it pertains to the private car. If the same number of vehicles taken off the road in April simply dropped their ICEs and switched to battery power, the fresh pandemic air experienced last month would become a daily occurrence, the argument goes. And it’s true, but the benefit could only be realized fully if those electric vehicles sourced their electrons from a wall socket or charging handle with no upstream emissions.

In Colorado’s case, coal produced 45 percent of the state’s electricity in 2019. A declining figure, residents would tell you.

[Image: LanaElcova/Shutterstock]