Source: Ali Fares, Ph.D., College of Ag and Human Sciences Prairie View A&M Univ., ASSOC. of 1890 RESEARCH DIRECTORS, 5/8/20


The middle of the last century was marked by widespread degraded air and water quality and the spread of severe environmental challenges (water contamination, poor air quality, smog and high ozone levels). It was the perfect storm to motivate 20-million or 10% of the U.S. population (led by the U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson) to start the first national Earth Day on April 22, 1970.

This environmental movement resulted in the passage of several landmark environmental protection laws, e.g., The Clean Air Act, The Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 1990, Earth Day became a global event, mobilizing hundreds across the globe. 

According to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of 1,300 independent scientists from all over the world, under the auspices of the United Nations, reported with a high certainty that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed the earth. These “activities” are mainly industrial activities that we depend upon. The panel is also very confident that primary greenhouse gases generated as a result of human activities (nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide) are the origin of the increase in the earth’s ambient air and ocean temperatures documented during the past half century. 
According to the 2018 Global Analysis of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration–National Centers for Environmental Information (NOAA- NCEI), the global annual temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.17°C (0.31°F) per decade since 1970. 

Even pandemics, such as the current COVID-19 virus pandemic, may be caused by climate change. According to Pushpam Kumar, United Nations Environment Programme and Chief Environmental Economist, the COVID-19 virus pandemic has been attributed to human interferences, such as deforestation, encroachment on animal habitats and biodiversity loss. A team from the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences, which includes myself, is also studying the impact of COVID-19 on leading air quality indicators and the emission and fate of some greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere (carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and nitrous oxide and its derivatives). Our researchers have looked at some of the major metropolitan areas of the world, e.g., Wuhan, Milano, Madrid, New York and Houston, and found there have been at least two significant indicators that could impact the response of the air quality in these locations during the COVID-19 shutdown. They include energy sources and the level of economic activities. Since the source of energy in these three locations is different: China uses more coal; Europe uses more natural gas; and the U.S. uses more gasoline, we postulate that air quality response will be globally different. Preliminary results have shown significant improvement during this pandemic in some air quality indicators (such as a decrease in nitrous oxide). 

Although COVID-19 has been causing loss of lives and jobs, economic and social disruption and other challenges globally, it has been an opportunity to test community resiliency and the human ability to innovate and find solutions for many problems in a short time. This pandemic offers an opportunity for the scientific community in the area of climate change, atmospheric science and natural resources and environmental management to collect data at local, regional, national and international scales on the anthropogenic impacts of human activities on the earth’s ecosystem. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these scientists and also policymakers to address many important issues. 

Earth Day has been an opportunity to pause for a moment to think about the fate of our planet and humanity. It is essential to know that human needs should not be unlimited because the earth has limited resources. We need to find a balance on how to live sustainably on this earth. The quick and sudden improvement of the earth’s air quality and substantial decrease in air pollution as a result of COVID-19 is a reminder that if we live sustainably and responsibly, we can live in harmony and have a positive impact on our environment. 

COVID-19 demonstrates to humanity, without a reasonable doubt, that it is possible to slow down or even to reverse some of these dangerous trends of global warming. Humanity has shown that it can be very innovative in dealing with life-threatening challenges. It’s by getting together and addressing those challenges as a global community that we can make change. 

COVID-19 also shows that if humans don’t protect the environment and live responsibly, we might lose some of the basics needs of our existence. We might deprive ourselves of our freedom to do the day -to-day activities we take for granted, such as going to work, traveling and having the ability to congregate. 

The 50th Earth Day anniversary came at the right time. It is now up to humanity to continue the positive environmental trend resulting from it. It reminds us that we should continue on this positive path for the better of this earth and for humanity.