Mayewski talks with Maine Calling about carbon emission drop amid COVID-19
Maine Public interviewed Paul Mayewski, director of the University of Maine Climate Change Institute, and Andrew Pershing, chief scientific officer and climate change ecologist for the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, for the Maine Calling piece “Climate Change & COVID-19: How Pandemic-Driven Changes in Behavior Might Affect Our Environment.” The report explores the drop in carbon emissions as the coronavirus pandemic slows down human activity, short-term changes as a result and whether there will be any long-term shifts. Mayewski said the reduction in transportation prompted by the pandemic caused a drop in greenhouse gases and rise in air quality. “There are two very prominent things that we’re going to see with respect to climate change as a consequence of this pandemic,” he said.