UTTRI associated faculty Professor Greg Evans, Director of The Southern Ontario Centre for Atmospheric Aerosol Research (SOCAAR), was interviewed on Earth Day in “World marks Earth Day during coronavirus pandemic,” CityNews, April 22, 2020.
We’ve been studying air pollution in downtown Toronto for over a decade now. We track dozens of pollutants, and we’re very interested in the sources of those pollutants. Since the shutdown due to COVID-19 we’ve seen a dramatic drop in the levels of air pollution.
Because it’s Earth Day, I think it’s great to think about moving forward. It is possible to work remotely, at home, so that perhaps not all of us need to come in to work every day. Some of us could work at home. We may not need to travel as much because we can do more by videoconferencing, so we may not need to fly as much.
Some of the other changes is we could invest in electric vehicles, for example, upgrade our truck fleets, and generally upgrade our transportation infrastructure.
There are lots of ways there could be wins for the economy, wins for the environment, and wins for climate.
– Professor Greg Evans
Watch Professor Evans’ video interview from 2:50 to 3:43 at CityNews.