Believe it or not, the coronavirus is actually helping the fight against air pollution. A lot. This may seem strange but actually, it’s really simple.

Because of coronavirus, many, many people are stuck in their homes. So there aren’t a lot of people driving on the roads and one main cause of air pollution is simply cars. Now that there is such a small number of cars on the road pollution has dropped significantly.

Large cities in the Northeast(that includes Detroit) have had drops in air pollution of 30%. That’s pretty big. Besides cars, factories are huge contributors to air pollution as well and many of those have also closed due to coronavirus which has also helped reduce pollution.

Is it really that surprising that pollution has gone down so much? “No, not really. It makes sense because when humans leave the environment alone it tends to do better,” states Isabel Gillay, a seventh-grader at west. She also states, “ When we go back we can be more conservative of the environment and understand that humans are one of the reasons that the environment is getting worse.”

Air pollution is terrible for our environment and us and the coronavirus is also terrible so it’s a good thing that during these times at least air pollution is decreasing.

Works cited

Hernandez, Marco. “This Is the Effect Coronavirus Has Had on Air Pollution All across the World.” World Economic Forum, 21 Apr. 2020, www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-covid19-air-pollution-enviroment-nature-lockdown/.

Regan, Helen. “Air Pollution Falls by Unprecedented Levels in Major Global Cities during Coronavirus Lockdowns.” CNN, Cable News Network, 23 Apr. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/world/air-pollution-reduction-cities-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html.