{"id":332321,"date":"2020-04-22T06:34:42","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T13:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=332321"},"modified":"2024-05-10T14:35:31","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T21:35:31","slug":"earth-day-nature-covid19-learning","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/earth-day-nature-covid19-learning","title":{"rendered":"Earth Day, Nature, and COVID-19: What We\u2019re Learning"},"author":841,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[422802],"tags":[1301,301562,1841,443261],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[478462],"esri_blog_department":[478222],"class_list":["post-332321","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservation","tag-biodiversity","tag-ecosystem-services","tag-impact-analysis","tag-planetary-health","esri-blog-category-viewpoint","esri_blog_department-conservation-and-environment"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"The scientific community will tap data about reduced human impact on the earth to provide perspective on the value of more sustainable choices.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Seeing nature\u2019s beauty and resilience during this time of reduced human interaction can inspire more sustainable practices.\r\n\r\nKey Takeaways\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>This moment of widespread quarantine provides perspective on how human activities impact the natural world.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Environmental health directly affects human suffering from COVID-19 and other problems.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>In rebounding from this crisis, humans should focus on innovative, sustainable approaches.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"With human activity curtailed by the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), we are gaining a greater understanding of how we affect our planet. Satellite imagery shows dramatic improvements in air quality as factories stay idle and fewer vehicles travel the roads. Animals have been free to roam as people shelter in place. Geoscientists have even gained more clarity on planetary movements and volcanic activity because of a lower hum of human-induced vibrations.\r\n\r\nThe unprecedented global pause caused by the COVID-19 crisis has put a spotlight on the environment\u2014a fitting perspective for this 50th anniversary of Earth Day.\r\n\r\nWe are likely to see industrial and vehicle activity pick right back up after the pandemic, and along with it, a return to air pollution. But, measurements of this moment will live forever as a scientific record of how humans affect the planet.\r\n\r\nAs scientists, we will tap this data to underscore the fact that we need to make sustainable changes as individuals and as industries. There is much we can do, including increasing the efficiency of vehicles and power plants, reducing fossil fuels in favor of clean energy, and pulling carbon into the soil.\r\n<h3><strong>Addressing Environmental Inequality<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe reported impetus of this virus from bats puts the origin solidly in nature. Through human activities, increasing urbanization, and the ways we treat wildlife, we have disrupted habitats and brought animal-borne diseases closer to people."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"A warming climate has spillover effects including the movement of disease from animals to humans and among those most vulnerable. Because COVID-19 is an acute respiratory condition, people living in areas with poor air quality are more susceptible.\r\n\r\nAs an African American, I also worry about the statistics from Chicago and Louisiana that show much higher rates of death for people of color. It comes from poverty and environmental racism where communities of color are forced to live in close proximity to polluted sites like highways, landfills, and toxic waste dumps. The quality of our natural world matters for every person and living organism on our planet, and where environmental impact is the worst, the suffering is the greatest.\r\n<h3><strong>Getting Ahead of the Curve<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nCOVID-19 has surfaced as a common adversary around the planet, with our brightest minds working hard to create a vaccine. But that will take some time. The common adage, \"you can't manage what you can't measure,\" clearly applies here. Without adequate testing, we can't isolate those infected to reduce and get ahead of the number of cases and deaths.\r\n\r\nWe can shatter the chain of virus transmission by continuing social distancing, increasing testing, adding capacity at labs, overcoming shortages of ventilators and personal protective equipment, and coordinating clear public health communication. One important consequence of the large number of people who aren't able to get tested is that current cases and fatalities are surely underreported."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Another strategy involves contact tracing\u2014finding who someone testing positive has been in close proximity to\u2014and working backward from there. In Massachusetts, an effort is under way to increase testing and recruit 1,000 people to do contact tracing. The idea is to locate everyone who tested positive for the coronavirus and advise them, whether they're sick or not, to isolate for two weeks to keep from spreading it. In my opinion, this effort is a national exemplar of what needs to be done.\r\n<h3><strong>Confronting the Next Planetary Crisis<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nAs an ocean scientist, I've spent my career focused on the water that covers 71 percent of the surface of our planet. The ocean is the largest biosphere, home to 50 to 80 percent of all life on earth. It also absorbs more than 25 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. So, the ocean is on the frontline of climate change from a number of perspectives.\r\n\r\nOcean warming has caused more severe storms. And, the water is becoming more acidic, damaging coral reefs, marine ecosystems, and fish stocks that many people depend on for food. The ocean is a foundation for life on this planet, and there's a growing awareness that the ocean is losing its ecological sustainability. But it is not too late. We can reverse the problem by viewing the ocean not just as a victim of climate change but as a source of solutions."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":333091,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Some organizations will use increased awareness brought about by the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to innovate for the future, rather than tighten the grip on past behaviors. Before the pandemic hit, businesses such as the world's largest money manager, BlackRock, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blackrock.com\/us\/individual\/investment-ideas\/sustainable-investing\">spoke about<\/a> the need to invest in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/about\/climate-action\/overview\">climate change solutions<\/a>. The company and many of its peers are talking about a more sustainable approach\u2014investing in companies that advance positive social or environmental outcomes and avoiding those that harm the environment.\r\n\r\nThe COVID-19 crisis provides a moment for greater planetary understanding and awareness. For instance, in Delhi, India\u2014a place well-known for its choking air pollution\u2014people are taking pictures of blue skies they have never seen before. We can hope that seeing nature's beauty and resilience during this time of reduced human activity will inspire us all to take action toward sustainable prosperity.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nListen to this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/podcast\/earth-day-in-a-time-of-pandemic\/\">Esri &amp; The Science of Where Podcast<\/a> with more details on the role of technology to foster sustainability and fight environmental and pandemic threats."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"<h2><strong>A New A<em>where<\/em>ness<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nGeographers have been studying the intersection of space, place, and infectious disease as long as there has been the discipline of geography, which is thousands of years old.\r\n\r\nGeographers in all subsets of the discipline\u2014economic and physical geographers, researchers, as well as those working in the media\u2014are responding to the COVID-19 crisis. At the moment, interactive dashboards are giving us an amazing situational awareness. Ongoing spatial analysis will provide further important context and insight.\r\n\r\nAt Esri, we have been creating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/location-intelligence\">location intelligence technologies<\/a> that pull together and analyze environmental factors related to the health of people, our planet, and business. Modern mapping has given us an unprecedented ability to see the pandemic move in real time, help stop the spread, and better understand COVID-19 implications.\r\n\r\nToward that end, we are proud to partner with Microsoft in its initiative of <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.microsoft.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/15\/a-healthy-society-requires-a-healthy-planet\/\">building a Planetary Computer<\/a> to aggregate and analyze environmental data\u00a0that will hopefully reverse declines in biodiversity and ecosystems.","snippet":""}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>With People on Pause, Conservation Benefits Become Apparent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The scientific community will tap data about reduced impact from people on the earth to provide perspective on the value of more sustainable choices.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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