Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Israeli Officials to Hold Ceasefire Talks in Washington Amid Military Escalation in Gaza

3 hours ago

Trump Escalates Feud With Musk, Threatens Tesla, SpaceX Support

3 hours ago

Musk Vows to Punish Lawmakers Who Back Trump’s Spending Bill

18 hours ago

Fresno Man Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years for $4.2 Million Tech Startup Fraud

19 hours ago

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

20 hours ago

Will Valadao Spoil Trump’s Plan for July 4th ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Signing?

22 hours ago

Shaver Lake and Reedley 4th of July Shows Are Wednesday. Who Else Is Celebrating?

1 day ago
As People Stay Home, Earth Turns Wilder and Cleaner
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
April 22, 2020

Share

An unplanned grand experiment is changing Earth.

As people across the globe stay home to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, the air has cleaned up, albeit temporarily. Smog stopped choking New Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world, and India’s getting views of sights not visible in decades. Nitrogen dioxide pollution in the northeastern United States is down 30%. Rome air pollution levels from mid-March to mid-April were down 49% from a year ago. Stars seem more visible at night.

People are also noticing animals in places and at times they don’t usually. Coyotes have meandered along downtown Chicago’s Michigan Avenue and near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. A puma roamed the streets of Santiago, Chile. Goats took over a town in Wales. In India, already daring wildlife has become bolder with hungry monkeys entering homes and opening refrigerators to look for food.

When people stay home, Earth becomes cleaner and wilder.

“It is giving us this quite extraordinary insight into just how much of a mess we humans are making of our beautiful planet,” says conservation scientist Stuart Pimm of Duke University. “This is giving us an opportunity to magically see how much better it can be.”

Chris Field, director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, assembled scientists to assess the ecological changes happening with so much of humanity housebound. Scientists, stuck at home like the rest of us, say they are eager to explore unexpected changes in weeds, insects, weather patterns, noise and light pollution. Italy’s government is working on an ocean expedition to explore sea changes from the lack of people.

Cleaner Air Has Been Most Noticeable in India and China

“In many ways we kind of whacked the Earth system with a sledgehammer and now we see what Earth’s response is,” Field says.

Researchers are tracking dramatic drops in traditional air pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide, smog and tiny particles. These types of pollution kill up to 7 million people a year worldwide, according to Health Effects Institute president Dan Greenbaum.

The air from Boston to Washington is its cleanest since a NASA satellite started measuring nitrogen dioxide,in 2005, says NASA atmospheric scientist Barry Lefer. Largely caused by burning of fossil fuels, this pollution is short-lived, so the air gets cleaner quickly.

Compared to the previous five years, March air pollution is down 46% in Paris, 35% in Bengaluru, India, 38% in Sydney, 29% in Los Angeles, 26% in Rio de Janeiro and 9% in Durban, South Africa, NASA measurements show.

“We’re getting a glimpse of what might happen if we start switching to non-polluting cars,” Lefer says.

Cleaner air has been most noticeable in India and China. On April 3, residents of Jalandhar, a city in north India’s Punjab, woke up to a view not seen for decades: snow-capped Himalayan peaks more than 100 miles away.

Cleaner air means stronger lungs for asthmatics, especially children, says Dr. Mary Prunicki, director of air pollution and health research at the Stanford University School of Medicine. And she notes early studies also link coronavirus severity to people with bad lungs and those in more polluted areas, though it’s too early to tell which factor is stronger.

The greenhouse gases that trap heat and cause climate change stay in the atmosphere for 100 years or more, so the pandemic shutdown is unlikely to affect global warming, says Breakthrough Institute climate scientist Zeke Hausfather. Carbon dioxide levels are still rising, but not as fast as last year.

The Wildlife Has Always Been There, but Many Animals Are Shy

Aerosol pollution, which doesn’t stay airborne long, is also dropping. But aerosols cool the planet so NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt is investigating whether their falling levels may be warming local temperatures for now.

Stanford’s Field says he’s most intrigued by increased urban sightings of coyotes, pumas and other wildlife that are becoming video social media staples. Boar-like javelinas congregated outside of a Arizona shopping center. Even New York City birds seem hungrier and bolder.

In Adelaide, Australia, police shared a video of a kangaroo hopping around a mostly empty downtown, and a pack of jackals occupied an urban park in Tel Aviv, Israel.

We’re not being invaded. The wildlife has always been there, but many animals are shy, Duke’s Pimm says. They come out when humans stay home.

For sea turtles across the globe, humans have made it difficult to nest on sandy beaches. The turtles need to be undisturbed and emerging hatchlings get confused by beachfront lights, says David Godfrey, executive director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy.

But with lights and people away, this year’s sea turtle nesting so far seems much better from India to Costa Rica to Florida, Godfrey says.

“There’s some silver lining for wildlife in what otherwise is a fairly catastrophic time for humans,” he says.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Clovis Police Seek Public’s Help in Finding Missing 82-Year-Old Woman

DON'T MISS

Fresno Woman Killed in Head-On Collision, CHP Investigating

DON'T MISS

Musk Vows to Punish Lawmakers Who Back Trump’s Spending Bill

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years for $4.2 Million Tech Startup Fraud

DON'T MISS

Bryan Kohberger Pleads Guilty in Murders of Four Idaho Students, ABC News Reports

DON'T MISS

Wildfire Near Lake Madera Country Estates Burns 12 Acres, Now 100% Contained

DON'T MISS

Fresno County CHP Arrest Two in Interstate 5 Drug, Gun, and Counterfeit Money Bust

DON'T MISS

California Seizes Over 600,000 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks. Newsom Calls for Safe Celebrations

DON'T MISS

Where Trade Talks Stand With Major US Partners Ahead of Tariffs-Hike Deadline

DON'T MISS

Labor Icon Huerta Breaks Ground on Fresno Park Bearing Her Name

UP NEXT

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

UP NEXT

935 People Killed in Israeli Strikes on Iran, Official Says

UP NEXT

US Revokes Visas for Bob Vylan After Music Duo’s Glastonbury Chants

UP NEXT

Israel Acknowledges Palestinian Civilians Harmed at Gaza Aid Sites, Says ‘Lessons Learned’

UP NEXT

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

UP NEXT

Israel Faces Genocide Accusations Amid Gaza Food Aid Killings

UP NEXT

Iran-Linked Hackers May Target US Firms and Critical Infrastructure, US Government Warns

UP NEXT

Israel Strikes Pound Gaza, Killing 60, Ahead of US Talks on Ceasefire

UP NEXT

US to Restart Trade Negotiations With Canada Immediately, White House Says

UP NEXT

Trump to Sign Order Related to Syria Sanctions Easing, CBS News Reports

Trump-Backed Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Passes US Senate

1 hour ago

Homeland Security Secretary Noem Says CNN May Be Prosecuted Over Report on Migration App

2 hours ago

Musk Promises a New Political Party if the GOP Bill Passes

2 hours ago

Dollar Gains Ground Against Major Peers After Better-Than-Expected US Jobs Data

2 hours ago

A Path Forward on Immigration Reform That Strengthens America

2 hours ago

France Shuts Schools, Italy Limits Outdoor Work as Heatwave Grips Europe

2 hours ago

Powell Reiterates Fed Will Wait for More Data Before Cutting Rates

2 hours ago

Visalia Police Investigate Morning Shooting Outside Bethlehem Center

2 hours ago

Israeli Officials to Hold Ceasefire Talks in Washington Amid Military Escalation in Gaza

3 hours ago

US Senate Republicans Struggling to Unite on Trump’s $3.3 Trillion Tax-Cut Bill

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Amaury Fernandez

July 1, 2025 Most Wanted Person of the Day Suspect Name: Amaury Fernandez Suspects Date of Birth: March 26, 1992 Physical Description: Hispa...

17 minutes ago

Amaury Fernandez is Valley Crime Stoppers' Most Wanted Person of the Day for July 1, 2025. (Valley Crimes Stoppers)
17 minutes ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Amaury Fernandez

1 hour ago

CA Rolls Back Its Landmark Environmental Law to Speed Housing Construction

A 36-year-old man died after being shot multiple times outside the Bethlehem Center in Visalia, prompting an active homicide investigation on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (Visalia PD)
1 hour ago

Visalia Police Investigate Deadly Shooting Near Bethlehem Center

President Donald Trump arrives at a dinner for NATO heads of state and governments hosted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Dutch Queen Maxima, on the sidelines of a NATO Summit, at Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague, Netherlands June 24, 2025. (Reuters/Toby Melville)
1 hour ago

Trump-Backed Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Passes US Senate

President Donald Trump and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speak with the media at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on the day of the opening of a temporary migrant detention center informally known as "Alligator Alcatraz" in Ochopee, Florida, U.S., July 1, 2025. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)
2 hours ago

Homeland Security Secretary Noem Says CNN May Be Prosecuted Over Report on Migration App

Tesla CEO Elon Musk greets U.S. President Donald Trump as they attend the NCAA men's wrestling championships in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., March 22, 2025. (REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo)
2 hours ago

Musk Promises a New Political Party if the GOP Bill Passes

U.S. dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration taken March 19, 2025. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
2 hours ago

Dollar Gains Ground Against Major Peers After Better-Than-Expected US Jobs Data

2 hours ago

A Path Forward on Immigration Reform That Strengthens America

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend