Everyone has been enjoying bluer skies, better views, great sunsets and better air quality with the reduction of vehicular and air traffic during the Covid crisis. ,Mount Everest is visible from the city of Kathmandu for the first time this century, even though it is 240 kilometers away.
In short, air quality has vastly improved in cities during the time of quarantine. BBC News reports that vehicle drivers are also willing to change their behaviour to maintain cleaner air and to be more environmentally prudent.
In Britain the lack of vehicular traffic resulted in a 17% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions recorded in early April. Surface emissions from industry and brake dust were reduced by 43 percent.
In a survey of 20,000 drivers conducted by the British Automobile Association, fifty percent said they were willing to walk more, and forty percent intended to use their car less frequently. Remarkably 80 percent of those drivers surveyed said they would “take some action to reduce their impact on air quality”.
Just as in the national Canadian survey conducted by Mario Canseco, many Britons expect to continue working from home. While 73 percent of Canadians expect to continue to work from home, 25 percent of Britons driving said they would work more often from home, while twenty percent said they would be cycling more.
Edmund King, president of the British Automobile Association stated
“We have all enjoyed the benefits of cleaner air during lockdown and it is gratifying that the vast majority of drivers want to do their bit to maintain the cleaner air. Walking and cycling more, coupled with less driving and more working from home, could have a significant effect on both reducing congestion and maintaining cleaner air.”
Images:bbc & forbes.com
