Green Living Association organised ‘COVID and Climate’ activity (Feb -Apr 2021) for the students from preschool to 12th grade firstly to equip them to successfully fight Coronavirus and secondly to develop among them the spirit to contribute their part in protecting our nation from all kinds of threats.
COVID-19 has changed the world, as, all countries and territories have registered corona cases, and the entire world is buzzing with uncertainty and fear. No doubt, there are devastating effects of Coronavirus on the individuals’ and collective economies including damaging impacts on the states’ economies, stock markets, oil prices, travel industries, manufacturing industries and people’s buying power. Moreover, there are increasing physical and mental impacts of the pandemic on the vast majority of the world population and experts worry that people all over the world may be experiencing an increasing number of mental health issues.
Regardless of the crucial effects of coronavirus on the world population, there are certain advantages of the pandemic which have never been seen in the recent past. The most significant impact has been witnessed on the ever-deteriorating environment. Satellite images show the pollution levels have enormously decreased in the most polluted parts of the world, including the atmospheres of Lahore and Karachi, with reasonable reduction of the density produced by Nitrogen dioxide in the lower atmosphere.
‘COVID and Climate’ was the concluding event of the Climate Project ‘CATCH‘ (Collective Action to Control Climate Change) which inspires students and their families to re-enter the post COVID life as New-NORMAL with a revolutionary vision on the basis of lessons learned from the pandemic. ‘COVID and Climate’ was really an inspiring activity offering a mix of MCQs, Creative Writing and Climate Puzzle Games with its enormous capacity to inspire young people to play their vital role as leaders. The young people have great potential to guide adults how to welcome a new world of Green Living by investing much more in nature-based solutions, sustainable agriculture, renewables, conservation and green and blue infrastructure. There are ways how private capital could do its share of the heavy lifting which is futuristic as well as profitable. Moreover, the Guidebooks present creative ideas how little changes in our lifestyles can bring a Healthier Environment for us all.
In making the activity even more inspiring GLA announced a wide range of prizes and awards for participants besides offering Green Certification to each participant. Other prizes included Rs. 100,000 Cash Prize, Laptop Cooling and Radiation Control Stands, Gold and Silver Medals, Green Angels’ Insignia and Honour Shields.
Remember, COVID-19 threat is not over
It is important for all of us to know that COVID-19 is a reality and its threat is very much there. The scientists have now found its variants and have studied that these variants do tend to spread faster, they’re more transmissible or more infectious. So that’s the worrying part. However, so far, they do not seem to cause more severe illness or a higher death rate or any sort of different clinical manifestations. During these times there have been two particular variants that have been reported to WHO. One was identified in the UK and one was identified in South Africa. They do have one change in common, we call it the N501Y mutation. But otherwise the two are different. And the reason there’s concern is that both of these variants were associated with an increase in the number of cases in both of these countries. (Click here to know more).