VIRUS COULD SAVE EARTH

Prof’s hope for post lockdown

- EMMA McMENAMY

DAMAGE to the Earth’s climate could be reversed if we continue to live more environmentally friendly lives after lockdown, a weather expert has said.

Irish climatologist Prof John Sweeney added if we travelled less and lived greener lives, we could see massive changes in 10 years.

Since the world has gone into lockdown following the coronavirus pandemic people have been self-isolating, non-essential travel has meant to a sharp fall in air and water pollution.

The canals of Venice have been so clean that fish and swans have been seen paddling and swimming for the first time in decades while dolphins have even been spotted in Italy’s waterways.

And the Himalayas in Northern India can be seen for the first time in decades from 125 miles away due to a massive drop in air pollution.

In Dublin, foxes are now seen in the heart of the city.

SMOG

Photos from major cities such as New Delhi, Los Angeles and Beijing in China, have emerged showing smog-free skies which only a few months ago had clouds of lung-choking toxic pollution over them.

Speaking to the Irish Sunday Mirror, Prof John Sweeney, who is based at Maynooth College, Co Kildare, said now is the perfect time to flatten the curve on environmental damage in the same way we are with coronavirus.

He added: “It is still possible to recover a lot of the lost ground that we have unfortunately lost to climate change over the past few decades.

“We are getting very close to the point of no return but I think what this exercise has demonstrated is that if we give nature a chance we can undo some of it.