AIR pollution in cities around the world dropped considerably during Covid lockdowns in 2020. City after city reporting “unprecedented falls” in CO2 smog pollution.

For the first time in decades people in polluted cities spoke of breathing fresh clean pollution free air. ‘Amazing NASA aerial photos’ of North American, European, and Chinese cities visible from space for the first time in decades.

This then is the direct consequence of worldwide lockdowns with huge falls in air travel, sea travel, and vehicles on the roads.

The numbers at stake are jaw-dropping. An estimated 34 billion tons (34 million, million tons) of CO2 generated on earth each year. The fall then in cities in 2020 lockdowns estimated at seven billion tons and making all the difference.

From a climate point of view Covid has done the planet huge good.

In a tragic twist for planet Earth history may show Covid has been our best guide. Showing us what we have to do. Cut back massively, and urgently, on CO2 pollution. And on methane and nitrogen dioxide.

Force the world to do what people don’t want to do. As matters stand, despite the impressive lead from COP26, and millions of activists, it’s very hard to see people are going to change lifetime habits.

Most recently, pre-pandemic, as reported in Bournemouth Echo January 2020, one in twenty deaths in the BCP conurbation are linked to air pollution. Plus of course the massive impact on climate.

STUART MARSHALL

Alexandra Road, Parkstone