BCSE

The world was hit hard and fast by the COVID19 pandemic. No one expected it to travel as far and as quickly as it did. Our routines, travel, and every day life was tossed in a metaphorical salad of chaos. Everywhere we looked people were wearing masks which, in time, evolved into somewhat of a fashion statement. Hand sanitizer and toilet paper were the most sought after commodities for months. People panicked and cleaned out store shelves. The greed of the people showed its ugly face and the finger-pointing, hatred, and ignorance grew parallel to people’s fear and restlessness.

Stay-at-home orders were put in place all around the world and gas prices plummeted to the lowest we’ve seen them since the 90’s. Some lived in denial, while others lived in terror. But all in all, planes were grounded, stores closed their doors, millions lost their jobs, schools shut down and a new era of mass online learning was imminent. The world had all but stopped and was now in perpetual state of indefinite chaos. So how could there be a silver lining to such a global tragedy?

With no one traveling on planes, cars, or boats, the carbon foot print of the entire world had drastically lowered. Something so many scholars and green advocates have striven for for decades was now happening all on its own, in a matter of weeks. The estimated global decrease in carbon is 17% according to a study published in the Nature Climate Change journal. At the peak of stay-at-home orders and lock-downs, carbon dioxide emissions decreased by about 18.7 million tons when compared to daily emissions from the same time last year, becoming possibly the largest decrease in history and levels comparable to what they were in 2006!

In China alone, carbon emissions dropped by 25% in just 4 weeks (Article by Lauri Myllyvirta – CarbonBrief) and nitrogen oxides emissions dropped by 50% (Study published in MDPI journal).

If we zoom in and isolate that even more, below satellite images of Wuhan, China show the massive decrease in No2 levels in comparison to the same time of year in 2019.

In other parts of the world, historic things are happening because of the large-scale drop in pollution as a direct result of the lock-downs of Coronavirus. In India, pollution has gone down so drastically that it is obvious to the naked eye. In just days after the lockdown was implemented in India’s capital, New Delhi, the levels of pollution dropped by almost 60% according to expert analysis from the Center for Science & Environment, reported by The Washington Post.

Even the tops of the Himalayas are now visible from a distance in some parts of India for the first time in 30 years! Imagine that awe-inspiring moment.

The decrease in emissions isn’t the only positive phenomenon resulting from COVID19. Nature has reclaimed its territory in beautiful ways. Waters are cleaner and clearer, streets are deserted, and there’s no traffic. All over the world, the animals that we keep at bay with our mere presence begin coming out of the woodwork and roaming the streets and waterways. An article from Inverse, an online news resource, compiled a list in fact. Although you’ve probably heard about the Dolphins in Venice, Italy’s canals, this was actually one viral post that was fake. However, dolphins did grace the docks of the Port of Cagliari in Sardinia, Italy.

https://youtu.be/cm7Py-PsXV4

Wild Turkeys took over many places, including a schoolyard in Oakland, CA, the city streets of Boston, MA as well as Harvard University.

https://twitter.com/OnlyInBOS/status/1242549247418994689

Mountain lions roamed freely through Boulder, CO.

Mountain lions moving back into boulder during lockdown.
byu/clicktosave inaww

The ever-reclusive leopard showed up in Southern India.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B94DcCsBunu/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

And even Coyotes relaxed in San Francisco.

The list goes on and on with wild boars walking the streets of Barcelona, Spain, deer in herds through the city streets of Nara, Japan and Eastern Ghats, India, and even hoards of monkeys in Thailand and Dehli, India.

One thing is for sure. Nature restores itself in our absence. The past few months was comparable to watching an episode of “Life After People”. Maybe not to the extreme of the endgame, but at least a taste of what it might be like. The pandemic hit the world hard and people regrettably lost their lives in the process. It has shaken us as a people and we will likely be dealing with the aftermath for long after the virus is gone. But in all the chaos and tragedy, it’s nice to see a little good come of it. Even if it’s only fleeting.

No one was prepared for how fast the world changed. Most of us were just expecting that it wouldn’t reach us. We went about our lives and hoped for the best. Then our world was turned upside down. uncertainty swept the globe and higher academia was no exception.

At Bucknell, we are committed to serving our students with the best education that we possibly can. This includes research intensive and hands-on courses. So where did that leave us in the face of the pandemic? In a tough spot to say the least. But our faculty, staff and students rose to the occasion.

One of these classes was ENST212/UNIV215: “Stream Ecology and Restoration: The Science Behind Fly Fishing” taught by Matthew Higgins, Katie Billie, and the BCSE’s Benjamin Hayes and Sean Reese. Benjamin Hayes noted the challenges and payoffs stating,

The COVID crises hit just as the outdoor labs began and I thought it impossible for the students to feel satisfied with completing a field intensive course remotely.  But it turned out to be fun making in-the-stream and underwater videos for them and they seemed grateful for the effort.

Like many across the university, they had to get creative. And their hard work paid off. The class was a success. Here are some highlights on the class and what it was all about…

We want to congratulate all of the students, the faculty, and staff across campus for their flexibility, their ability to adapt quickly, and their outstanding work in such unprecedented circumstances. Here’s to a brighter future ahead.

On Thursday, April 24th, the Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium (PERC) announced the recipient’s of the 2020 Campus Sustainability Champion Award. “This award is given to students, faculty, administrators, and staff of PA colleges and universities who’ve made meaningful contributions benefiting social, economic and/or environmental sustainability on their campus, in their community, or in society at large.”

And the winners are…

“Mark Spiro has been active in Bucknell’s sustainability efforts for two decades. In addition to teaching Biology 150, “Plants, People, and the Environment,” he co-led the Landscape group for the 2008 Campus Greening Report and co-founded the Bucknell Arboretum project, which he has co-directed since. These efforts created a highly impactful collaboration between faculty, staff, and students that has helped the campus landscape become more biodiverse and sustainable. He also played a leadership role in establishing the Lewisburg Community Garden, a university-town collaboration that, among other things, provided opportunities for local residents to have their own gardens, run a summer camp for children, co-hosted Community Harvest, a weekly hot meal program, and provided thousands of pounds of fresh produce to local food banks. More recently, Mark spearheaded an effort to establish a campus farm for teaching and campus food production. After years of planning and organizing, the farm was finally established in 2018 as a five acre living laboratory. Over 800 students in 32 classes visited the farm in its first year to learn about regenerative agriculture, soil carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and other sustainability-related topics.” ~ Pagreencolleges.org

“Neil Boyd has been an ardent supporter of sustainability for many years.  He was the inaugural faculty sustainability director at Lycoming College, where he championed changes in campus culture, created an interdisciplinary minor in sustainability, and developed sustainable management courses in the Business Administration program.  At Bucknell, Neil is a member of the President’s Sustainability Council, and he led the process for the Freeman College of Management to become a signatory to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education.  As the PRME Coordinator he led strategic sustainability planning efforts, and he continues to help stimulate environmental and social sustainability curricula and cultures within the College.  Neil serves as an advisory board member for the Bucknell Center for Sustainability and the Environment, and he helped to develop the Coal Region Field Station that promotes pedagogy, scholarship, and service for social change in several municipalities in the lower anthracite region.  Neil has supported additional efforts to grow civic engagement in the classroom and at the University, and he has published extensively on social and environmental sustainability topics in the fields of management, public management, and community psychology.” ~ Pagreencolleges.org

“Ashley Vecchio, a senior Managing for Sustainability major, demonstrates excellent leadership, drive and commitment in coordinating students, faculty and staff involvement on campus sustainability activities. She has unwavering motivation and dedication to planning and implementing sustainability events. She was responsible for a successful “Sustainable Move Out” event that helped in the diversion of over 15 tons of solid waste from the landfill in 2019. In 2020, Ashley successfully coordinated the planning and implementation of a campus wide, student-led sustainability innovation competition, “the Green Tank,” where groups of students self-organized and used real campus data to create project pitches for promoting campus environmental sustainability. This competition was sanctioned by Bucknell University through the administration’s commitment of using capital from the Green Fund to finance the winning projects. As a senior intern with the Office of Campus Sustainability, Ashley demonstrated leadership by supporting fellow students in delivering their expected results in advocating for sustainable behaviors on campus. She is a team player that delivers on her assigned individual and collective performance targets. She is also a student member of the President’s Sustainability Council (PSC). The PSC has the overall executive leadership responsibility and oversight of sustainability at Bucknell.” ~ Pagreencolleges.org

Each of these individuals have demonstrated, through their work, a strong dedication to advance sustainability on their campus and/or in their communities. The Bucknell Center for Sustainability & the Environment is pleased to congratulate them on their esteemed accomplishments and efforts in sustainability and look forward to their work in the future.