"The Coronavirus Lockdown Revealed the Magnitude of Air Pollution from Agriculture"
A story in Forbes features insights shared by environmental economist Valentina Bossetti during an episode of Resources Radio.
Satellite images showed noxious pollution vanishing over China and Europe when the world shut down in response to the coronavirus pandemic. But on the ground in Milan, environmental economist Valentina Bossetti was puzzled the air wasn’t cleaner.
“What I was expecting is, well, from tomorrow, air quality is going to be fantastic,” she said via Resources Radio. “But then we were struck by the fact that air quality wasn't as good as we were expecting. What was happening?”
Traffic was shut down in northern Italy. Most industrial activity was shut down. Businesses and schools were closed. Because it was a warm spring, there was less home heating than usual.
“And so the big question is why didn't we have a larger effect?” said the senior scientist at the European Institute on Economics & the Environment. “And the answer, we find, is agriculture.”
Read the full article here.