This is the first segment of a special two-hour Maine Calling, as we continue to cover the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The global shutdown of travel and other human activity has been the first, massive reduction of resources and emissions to happen on this scale. It's an inadvertent experiment on how climate change could be slowed if everyone in the world curtailed their actions that harm the environment. We discuss what short-term changes have already been measured, and what may happen in terms of long-term changes due to shifts in behavior and global collaboration – or whether these changes are fleeting.
Guests:
Paul Mayewski, Director, Professor, Climate Change Institute, University of Maine
Andrew Pershing, Chief Scientific Officer & Climate Change Ecologist, Gulf of Maine Research Institute
Call-in guest: Rebecca Lincoln, toxicologist, coordinator of Maine Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, with the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention
Resources
- Pollution Has Slowed Around The World. Scientists Wonder How That Will Affect Maine
- Maine Public interviews Mayewski about pollution slowdown due to COVID-19
- New EPA Rules Will Increase Air Pollution As The World Suffers A Respiratory Pandemic
- Probing the Black Death for lead pollution insights
- With Fewer Cars On The Road In Mass., Emissions Are (Slightly) Down
- Coronavirus: Goats take over empty streets of seaside town
- From 9/11, a Lesson on Whales, Noise and Stress
- Anthrax Outbreak In Russia Thought To Be Result Of Thawing Permafrost