title: Biddu

text: In the late 1970s, Western disco was getting popular in Asia and particularly in India, where there were not yet any home-bred disco stars. It was this reason that led established Indian filmmaker and actor Feroz Khan to England and to Biddu, in 1979. Khan wanted to introduce a catchy song in his upcoming Hindi film, "Qurbani", in which the main score of the film was by the Indian music duo, Kalyanji Anandji. Biddu initially was not interested in composing a Hindi film song, but later took it up as he would say years later, "I thought it would keep my mum happy (back home in India)". About the same time Khan happened to come across 15-year-old Nazia Hassan at a party in London. Khan later requested Hassan have an audition with Biddu. Biddu later signed her up for the song he was composing for "Qurbani".


title: Biddu

text: It did not take a long time for Biddu to compose "Aap Jaisa Koi" for "Qurbani". The tune and composition he used for "Aap Jaisa Koi" was similar to several of his earlier songs, particularly the 1976 Tina Charles hit "Dance Little Lady Dance". As the girl, Nazia Hassan, had a nasal voice, Biddu decided to backtrack it for an echo effect. The song which was recorded in London, was the first Hindi song to be recorded on 24 tracks. In 1980, "Qurbani" ran to packed houses in India, largely on the weight of "Aap Jaisa Koi" and another number "Laila O Laila". Nazia Hassan became a teenage sensation. "Aap Jaisa Koi" was a hit across the Indian subcontinent.


title: Biddu

text: Riding on the popularity of the song and the film, Biddu decided to sign Nazia Hassan and her brother Zoheb Hassan up for an Urdu pop album, something hitherto not tried in India. Biddu modeled them on the then-popular American brother-sister duo, The Carpenters. Biddu composed a few catchy numbers for Nazia and Zoheb for the album "Disco Deewane". In 1981, the album was a hit across Asia, South Africa, and some countries in South America (particularly Brazil where it topped the chart), charting in 14 countries. The album became the best-selling Asian pop album up until that time. The 15-year-old teenage Pakistani singer Nazia Hassan became a household name across South Asia. "Disco Deewane" was followed by the production of three more heavy hitters with Nazia and Zoheb; "Star/Boom Boom" in 1982 (the number "Boom Boom" from the album and film "Star" was a hit), then the album "Young Tarang 1984" two years later, before winding up again with the duo in 1987 with "Hotline". The duo went on to sell 60 million records worldwide.


title: Biddu

text: Beyond Southern Asia, he also had some success in another part of Asia, the Far East. After having previously had a chart-topping hit in Japan with The Tigers in 1969, he returned there to work with the popular Japanese idol and J-pop singer Akina Nakamori, for whom he produced "Don't Tell Me This is Love" in 1985. It was included in her 1985 album "My Best Thanks", which topped the Japanese chart and sold around 300,000 copies. He produced several more hit songs for Akina Nakamori, including the 1987 songs "The Look That Kills" and "", which became chart-topping hits in Japan. "BLONDE" in particular sold over 300,000 copies in Japan that year. He also worked in Hong Kong, where he produced and composed the song "傷心戲院" ("Sad Theater") for C-pop singer Samantha Lam in 1988. In the Philippines, the song "Chic-Chica-Chic-Chica-Chic" from his hit 1976 album "Rainforest" was used as the main theme of the popular 1980s sitcom "Chicks to Chicks". In the late 1980s, he returned to the UK music scene with house music records such as "Humanity" (1989).


title: Biddu

text: Having spent nearly a decade with the Nazia-Zoheb pair, Biddu next turned his attention to Hindi vocalist Shweta Shetty, both writing and producing the "Johnny Joker" album in 1993. Then in 1995, came another album, composed and produced by Biddu. "Made in India" – a dance album for the Hindi pop/film playback singer Alisha Chinai. The album became the best selling Hindi dance album and featured a handful of Western styled videos – a selling point for India's newly launched MTV channel. It topped the Indian chart, where it remained for over a year, and sold over five million copies in India.


title: Biddu

text: In 1996, Biddu made a brother-sister duo popular again with Shaan (Shantanu Mukherjee) and Sagarika Mukherjee (Saag), producing the "Naujawan" album. Biddu spent the rest of the 1990s working with a variety of musicians, including the Indian girl-group The Models, South Indian Singer K.S. Chithra, and Sonu Nigam, as well as continuing his collaboration with Alisha Chinai on her "Dil Ki Rani" album. Into the new millennium, he produced two hit albums with Sansara, "Yeh Dil Sun Raha Hai" and "Habibi".


title: Biddu

text: His own 1999 album, "Eastern Journey", was an experiment which blended Indian pop with Western flair and strong, jazz elements.


title: Biddu

text: Biddu also worked with Junaid Jamshed. Both of them worked in London and produced an album under the composition and lyrics of Shoib Mansoor Sahab.


title: Biddu

text: Biddu now lives in Spain with his English wife of 39 years, Sue, and two grown-up children. He started a publishing house called SueBiddu Music, which administers music for artists, wrote an autobiography called "Made in India" at the insistence of his wife, and has returned to live performances as a singer. In 2010, Biddu won an "Outstanding Achievement" award at the UK Asian Music Awards (UK AMAs), and he was also awarded the "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the JD Rock Awards in India that same year.


title: Biddu

text: The following is a selected discography of albums, singles and soundtracks he has produced or composed.


title: The Best Man: The Final Chapters

text: The Best Man: The Final Chapters is an upcoming American comedy-drama miniseries created by Malcolm D. Lee and developed by Lee and Dayna Lynne North. It is set to premiere on Peacock on December 22, 2022.


title: The Best Man: The Final Chapters

text: On February 9, 2021, Peacock gave production a limited series order consisting of ten episodes. It is created by Malcolm D. Lee and Dayna Lynne North who are also executive producing it. Filming for the limited series began on March 14, 2022. It was filmed in New York City, New Jersey, and Dominican Republic. The series is set to be released on Peacock on December 22, 2022, with all eight episodes instead of the original ten-episode order.


title: The Best Man: The Final Chapters

text: Upon the limited series order announcement, Morris Chestnut, Melissa De Sousa, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long, and Harold Perrineau are set to reprise their roles from 1999's film "The Best Man". On April 29, 2022, Nicole Ari Parker, Ron Canada, Brandon Victor Dixon, Michael Genet, Yvonna Pearson, Aaron Serotsky, Terrence Terrell, Tobias Truvillion, and Eric Scott Ways joined the cast in recurring roles.


title: Moon So-ri

text: Moon So-ri (born July 2, 1974) is a South Korean actress, film director and screenwriter. She is best known for her acclaimed leading roles in "Oasis" (2002) and "A Good Lawyer's Wife" (2003).


title: Moon So-ri

text: After graduating with a degree in Education from Sungkyunkwan University, Moon So-ri became part of the theater group "Hangang" ("Han River") from 1995 to 1997, and debuted in the play "Classroom Idea" (she also collaborated in its creation). She appeared in plays and short films such as "Black Cut" and "To the Spring Mountain" before finding fame as a leading actress. Her first film role was in Lee Chang-dong's acclaimed "Peppermint Candy", however her acting skills were not really showcased until she appeared in her second film "Oasis", also by Lee Chang-dong. Her powerful portrayal of a woman with cerebral palsy earned her strong praise as well as the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Emerging Actor or Actress at the 2002 Venice Film Festival (Moon is only the second Korean to win a prize there, after Kang Soo-yeon in 1985 for "The Surrogate Woman"). She was also named Best Actress at the 2003 Seattle International Film Festival.


title: Moon So-ri

text: The following year she again found fame in Im Sang-soo's third film "A Good Lawyer's Wife". A 180-degree turn from her previous screen image, this film featured her as a free thinking woman in a decaying marriage who starts an affair with the teenage boy next door. This film was also invited to the Venice Film Festival, and she later won the Best Actress award from the Stockholm International Film Festival. Similar to the case with "Oasis", Best Actress honors at many domestic awards ceremonies followed.


title: Moon So-ri

text: Moon starred opposite Song Kang-ho in 2004's "The President's Barber", a film that illustrates 20 years of modern Korean history through the eyes of president Park Chung-hee's personal barber. She took a more central role in her next feature "Sa-kwa", an introspective relationship drama about a woman who embarks on a new relationship after being dumped by her long-time boyfriend. Also from 2005, "Bravo, My Life!" saw her return to the historical era of the late 70s/early 80s in a family drama set against the political upheaval of those times.


title: Moon So-ri

text: In 2006, she played a sexually promiscuous professor in "Bewitching Attraction", then a disapproving sister in "Family Ties" (for which she shared Best Actress honors with three castmates at the 2006 Thessaloniki Film Festival, where their film also swept Best Picture and Best Screenplay). Moon starred in her first ever television series in 2007, the big-budget fusion fantasy-period drama "The Legend". She then narrated "My Heart Is Not Broken Yet", a documentary on Song Sin-do and her decade-long lawsuit against the Japanese government for an official apology towards her fellow comfort women.


title: Moon So-ri

text: She followed that with sports movie "Forever the Moment" (a sleeper hit in 2008), another TV drama (about a family of grown-up siblings), and the human rights-themed "Fly, Penguin" in 2009.


title: Moon So-ri

text: To promote the 2009 Green Film Festival in Seoul, Kim Tae-yong directed Moon in the short film "Take Action, Now or Never!" about power saving, cycling, and handkerchief use (her husband Jang Joon-hwan appeared in a cameo). She was also one of the four characters in Baik Hyun-jhin's short film "The End".


title: Moon So-ri

text: After appearing in "A Little Pond", the 2010 dramatization of the No Gun Ri Massacre, Moon joined the ensemble cast of Hong Sang-soo's "Ha Ha Ha". "Ha Ha Ha" won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.


title: Moon So-ri

text: Having always expressed a desire to return to her stage roots, Moon did so in 2006 in "Sulpun Yonguk" ("Sad Play") and again in the 2010 Korean production of "The Pitmen Painters".


title: Moon So-ri

text: Her voice acting for "Leafie, A Hen into the Wild" was praised as "superb [...] instantly recognizable and articulating the gumption and touching naivete of the eponymous hen with great conviction," and in 2011 "Leafie" became the most successful Korean animated film of the modern era, with over 2 million admissions. That same year, Moon joined Konkuk University's Faculty of Arts as a professor of film studies.


title: Moon So-ri

text: In 2012, she worked again with Hong Sang-soo in "In Another Country", which was headlined by French actress Isabelle Huppert, of whom Moon is a fan.


title: Moon So-ri

text: Because she found his script "unique and creative," Moon took a risk on newbie director Park Myung-rang and joined the cast of his 2013 crime thriller "An Ethics Lesson". She then reunited with Sol Kyung-gu in the spy comedy "".


title: Moon So-ri

text: In 2014, Moon starred in "Venus Talk", about the romantic and sex lives of three women in their forties. She also appeared in Park Chan-kyong's fantasy/documentary "Manshin: Ten Thousand Spirits" that looked at Korean modern history through the checkered past and exorcism-based imagination of a shaman. Another Hong Sang-soo feature, "Hill of Freedom", followed.


title: Moon So-ri

text: On television, she was designated as one of the co-hosts of a new talk show, "Magic Eye"; this was the first time Moon had been involved in variety programming.


title: Moon So-ri

text: Moon then made her directorial debut with the short film "The Actress", in which she played the title character who goes mountain climbing with friends then meets up for drinks with a group of male acquaintances; once alcohol has loosened the tongues of her companions, she learns their prejudices against her. It premiered at the 19th Busan International Film Festival, where she also co-hosted the opening ceremony with Ken Watanabe. Along with two other short films "The Running Actress" and "The Best Director", the feature-length film premiered in 2017. Moon has cited Lee Chang-dong as a key influence on her directorial work, saying that she thought about her experience with Lee a lot while making these three shorts.


title: Moon So-ri

text: In 2015, Moon became the first Korean actor invited as a jury member of the Locarno International Film Festival; festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian lauded her "brave choices (in selecting projects)" and called Moon "the jewel of the Korean movie industry". The following year, she was invited to the Venice International Film Festival, where she became the first South Korean actor to serve as a juror on the Orizzonti section.


title: Moon So-ri

text: In 2018, Moon starred in the Korean film adaptation of the Japanese manga series "Little Forest", playing the main character (Kim Tae-ri)'s mom.


title: Moon So-ri

text: Among Moon's upcoming films are romance film "Good Day" by Zhang Lu, legal film "Juror 8", and school bullying drama "I Want to See Your Parents' Face", Moon also voiced "The Underdog", which was directed by "Leafie, A Hen into the Wild" director.


title: Moon So-ri

text: In 2021, Moon appeared in the film "Three Sisters," in which she earned two Best Actress awards at the prestigious 42nd Blue Dragon Film Awards and 41st Korean Association of Film Critics Awards, and a nomination at the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards category in the Best Actress – Film. In June 2021, Moon appeared in the MBC drama "On the Verge of Insanity" aired on MBC with Jung Jae-young and Lee Sang-yeob. Moon has confirmed that she will appear in the Netflix film "Seoul Vibe" with actor Yoo Ah-in, and Netflix drama "Queen Maker" with actress Kim Hee-ae, which are both expected to be released around 2022.


title: Moon So-ri

text: According to Moon, she had a strict upbringing; she was not allowed to go to the theater, and she was also forced to read classical literary works. During her childhood, she had to learn to perform pansori, and play the violin and the gayageum.


title: Moon So-ri

text: On December 24, 2006 Moon married Jang Joon-hwan, director of cult film "Save the Green Planet!". Both Sungkyunkwan University alumni, the two reportedly met when Jang directed her in the 2003 music video for Jung Jae-il's 눈물꽃 ("Flower of Tears"). After suffering a miscarriage in 2010, Moon gave birth to a daughter on August 4, 2011.


title: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the environment

text: The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the environment, with changes in human activity leading to temporary changes in air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and water quality. As the pandemic became a global health crisis in early 2020, various national responses including lockdowns and travel restrictions caused substantial disruption to society, travel, energy usage and economic activity, sometimes referred to as the "anthropause". As public health measures were lifted later in the pandemic, its impact has sometimes been discussed in terms of effects on implementing renewable energy transition and climate change mitigation.


text: With the onset of the pandemic, some positive effects on the environment as a result of human inactivity were observed. In 2020, carbon dioxide emissions fell by 6.4% or 2.3 billion tonnes globally. In April 2020, emissions fell by up to 30%. In China, lockdowns and other measures resulted in a 26% decrease in coal consumption, and a 50% reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions rebounded later in the pandemic as many countries began lifting restrictions, with the direct impact of pandemic policies having a negligible long-term impact on climate change.


text: Some developed nations introduced so-called "green recovery" economic stimulus packages, aiming to boost economic growth while facilitating renewable energy transition. One of these investments was the European Union's seven-year €1 trillion budget proposal and €750 billion recovery plan, "Next Generation EU", which seeks to reserve 25% of EU spending for climate-friendly expenditure.


text: However, decreased human activity during the pandemic diverted attention from ongoing activities such as accelerated deforestation of the Amazon rainforest and increased poaching in parts of Africa. The hindrance of environmental policy efforts, combined with economic slowdown may have contributed to slowed investment in green energy technologies.


text: The pandemic also led to increased medical waste. Production and use of medical equipment such as personal protective equipment contributed to plastic waste. The medical response required a larger than normal number of masks, gloves, needles, syringes, and medications. During 2020, approximately 65 billion gloves and 129 billion face masks were used every month, and disposed of. Enforced public use of PPE has posed challenges to conventional waste management. Greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the treatment process of this plastic waste ranged from 14 to 33.5 tons of CO per ton of mask, the largest share being from production and transport.


text: Increasing amounts of greenhouse gases since the beginning of the industrialization era has caused average global temperatures on the Earth to rise. Climate change has led to the melting of glaciers, increase in extreme weather, loss of species, frequent wildfires, and rising sea levels. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, measures that were expected to be recommended by health authorities in the case of a pandemic included quarantines and social distancing. Simultaneously, researchers predicted that a reduction in economic activity would target the issues created by global warming; it would halt rising temperatures, as well as diminish air and marine pollution, and benefit the environment. The relationship between human activity and the environment had been observed in various public health crises in the past, such as the Spanish flu and smallpox epidemics, and was observed again with the COVID-19 pandemic.


text: On 11 March 2020, the outbreak of COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). By 5 July 2020, 188 countries or regions had reported cases of COVID-19. As of November 2021, the continuing COVID-19 pandemic had killed over 5 million people. As a result of the severity of the virus, most countries enacted lockdowns to protect people, mitigate the spread, and ensure space in hospitals. These lockdowns disrupted daily life worldwide, decreasing the level and frequency of human activity and production.


text: COVID-19 forced industries, businesses, and large corporations to shut down. Although the damage caused to human life, the economy, and society was extensive, the dramatic changes to human activity had an impact on the environment. Surplus to emerging estimates of monthly energy supply or estimated parameters that constructed the near-real-time daily CO emission inventories during COVID reduction was observed based on activity from power generation (for 29 countries), industry (for 73 countries), road transportation (for 406 cities), aviation and maritime transportation and commercial and residential sectors emissions (for 206 countries). This decline in CO emissions was followed by decline in regional concentrations of nitrogen oxide, which was observed by ground-based networks and satellites. These emissions were calculated by researchers in which observations showed little impact (less than 0.13ppm by April 30, 2020) on the over-served global concentration.


text: Reductions in fossil fuel consumption as well as economic activity due to travel restrictions, business closures and other dramatic responses due to COVID-19 were recorded. As human activity slowed globally, a substantial decrease in fossil fuel use, resource consumption, and waste disposal was observed, generating less air and water pollution in many regions of the world. Specifically, there was a sharp and lasting decline in planned air travel and vehicle transportation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic which in effect reduced the net carbon emission across the globe.


text: With the impact being noted, some researchers and officials called for biodiversity and environmental protections as part of COVID-19 recovery strategies.


text: Due to the pandemic's impact on travel and industry, the planet as a whole experienced a decrease in air pollution. A reduction in air pollution mitigated both climate change and COVID-19 risks, but it has not yet been established which types of air pollution, if any, are common risks to both. The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air reported that methods to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, such as quarantines and travel bans, resulted in a 25% reduction of carbon emission in China. In the first month of lockdowns, China produced approximately 200 million fewer metric tons of carbon dioxide than the same period in 2019 due to a reduction in air traffic, oil refining, and coal consumption. In this same period, car travel fell by 70% in the UK. One Earth systems scientist estimated that this reduction may have saved at least 77,000 lives. However, Sarah Ladislaw from the Center for Strategic & International Studies argued that reductions in emissions resulting from economic downturns should not be viewed as beneficial, because China's return to previous rates of growth amidst trade wars and supply chain disruptions in the energy market will worsen its environmental impact. Additionally, "Nature" reported that in 2020, global carbon emissions only fell by 6.4%.


text: Between 1 January and 11 March 2020, the European Space Agency observed a marked decline in nitrous oxide emissions from cars, power plants, and factories in the Po Valley region in northern Italy, coinciding with lockdowns in the region. Throughout areas in North India such as Jalandhar, the Himalayas became visible again for the first time in decades, as the drop in pollution triggered air quality improvement.


text: During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, NASA and the ESA monitored the significant decrease in nitrogen dioxide gases in China. The economic slowdown from the virus drastically reduced pollution levels, especially in cities like Wuhan, China by 25-40%. NASA used an ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) to analyze and observe the ozone layer as well as pollutants such as NO, aerosols, and other chemicals. This instrument helped NASA to process and interpret the data coming in due to the lock-downs worldwide. According to NASA scientists, the drop in NO pollution began in Wuhan, China and slowly spread to the rest of the world. The drop occurred drastically because the emergence of the virus coincided with the same time of year as the lunar year celebrations in China. During this festival, factories and businesses were closed for the last week of January to celebrate the lunar year festival. The drop in NO in China did not achieve an air quality of the standard considered acceptable by health authorities. Other pollutants in the air such as aerosol emissions remained.


text: In early 2020, improvements were observed in transboundary Southeast Asian haze, attributed to lockdowns and other restrictions introduced by governments, as well as favourable meteorological conditions.


text: Joint research led by scientists from China and the U.S. estimated that nitrogen oxide emissions decreased by 50% in East China from 23 January (Wuhan lockdown) to 9 February 2020 in comparison to the period from 1 to 22 January 2020. Emissions then increased by 26% from 10 February (back-to-work day) to 12 March 2020, indicating possible increasing socioeconomic activities after most provinces allowed businesses to open. It is yet to be investigated what COVID-19 control measures are most efficient controlling virus spread and least socioeconomic impact.


text: According to the World Health Organization, more than 80% of individuals living in cities are typically exposed to dangerous air pollution, which has been associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 problems and mortality.


text: The changes in air pollution during COVID lockdowns have also impacted water quality. Scientists have long noted that air quality and surface water quality have a close connection; however, the decrease in air pollution during the pandemic specific impact on water systems remains unclear. Most studies have found that improvements due to COVID-19 were temporary, although there have been notable decreases in pollutants in various water systems.


text: On 30 January 2020, the first COVID-19 case in India was recorded in Kerala in South India, which was followed by a nationwide lockdown from March 25 to May 31, 2020. Reduction in air pollution as well as improvement in air quality was reported due to the lockdown which came as a relief to the environment; restrictions on industrial activities were also beneficial. Many Indian cities also observed a major reduction in air pollution. Even the industrial state of Gujarat, situated on the west coast of India, reported remarkable reduction of air pollutants due to restrictions imposed on industrial activities and traffic between the lockdown period from 25 March to 20 April 2020. Some of the major air pollutants, like nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide, decreased by one to two percent along with average reduction of 0.3 degree Celsius in temperature in Vapi within the year 2019. Moreover, the emissions of pollutants decreased on an average of fifty-one to seventy two percent, resulting in an average temperature dropdown by two degrees Celsius within the lockdown period. In India the megacities that are Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata also reported the fall in temperature in Celsius by 2°, 3°, 2° and 2.5° respectively. The COVID-19 lockdown led to improvement of the water and air quality due to significant fall of air pollutants as reported in countrywide researches. Emissions of chemicals which lead to pollution of the environment such as carbon monoxide, ammonia, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide showed a significant reduction of 22.82%, 30.61%, 32.11% and 46.95% respectively; PM2.5 as well as PM10 reported a downfall by 57.09% and 48.56% respectively, resulting in improvement of air quality during the fourth phase of lockdown, from 22 March to 31 May 2020, named “Janta Curfew”.


text: The vast reduction of nitrous oxides in the atmosphere was seen far from the industrial borders of China. The metropolitan centers of New York, Paris, and London recorded 40% declines in nitrous oxide in the first two weeks of Spring 2020 in comparison to the prior year. In March 2020, Los Angeles (notorious for both traffic and smog) saw a 20% increase in air quality due to the quarantine. In the San Francisco Bay Area, traffic was down 45%, leading to a stark contrast in carbon dioxide emissions compared to previous years.


text: Scientists have long understood that in the atmosphere, water particles chemically react with carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides and/or nitrogen oxides; the result of this mixing is acid rain. Acid rain falls into rivers and lakes, which in turn, harms aquatic life. As a result, air quality and water quality are linked. Researchers have noted the interconnected relationship between the quality of the air and the cleanliness of water. Strong correlations between the simultaneous improvement in air and water quality were again witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic.


text: Numerous reports have documented that the increased usage of masks led to, "...an extra 8 million tons of plastic waste during the pandemic...", partly due to discarded facial masks that were worn in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19 from person to person via airborne transmission.


text: The onset of COVID-19 in the United States improved air quality. The improvement in air quality led to improvements in water quality. For example, in the San Francisco Bay, notable reductions in water pollution were observed. Experts have attributed the reduction of water particulates to the absence of traffic due to the pandemic. Additionally, studies about the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and atmospheric NO concentration levels in New York City revealed that air quality significantly improved during the pandemic. This information suggested that improved air quality in New York City was a result of the correlation between air and water quality.


text: In April 2020, Oregon State University launched a public health project named TRACE-COVID-19, which performed over 60,000 individual tests and 3,000 wastewater tests throughout Oregon communities. The purpose of the project was to determine the community prevalence of COVID-19 and ultimately aimed to both lower the risk and slow the spread of the virus. The data collected from the TRACE program was used to help officials decide what public health actions they should take.


text: A 2-month study about vehicular travel in Massachusetts in 2020 revealed a 71% and 46% reduction in car and truck traffic, respectively. The significant decrease in traffic correlated with a direct reduction in atmospheric levels of harmful particulates, resulting in a decrease in overall air pollution. As seen in other instances, the atmospheric particulate reductions led to an improvement in water quality.


text: The Peruvian jungle experienced 14 oil spills from the beginning of the pandemic through early October 2020. Of these, eight spills were in a single sector (Block 192) operated by Frontera Energy del Perú S.A. which ceased operations during the pandemic and failed to maintain its wells and pipes. The oil seeped into the ground where it contaminated the drinking water of the indigenous people in Quichua territory. Oil spills in the Peruvian Amazon have been a problem for decades, leaking toxic metals and hydrocarbons into the drinking water and surrounding environment. A 2016 study done on 1,168 people living near Block 192 indicated that 50% of those tested had toxic metals (lead, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium) in their blood at levels above WHO acceptable limits. As a result of these oil spills, the Quichua people of Nueva Andoas were at a particularly high risk for diseases before the pandemic. Further compounded by a lack of medicine, lack of doctors, lack of access to vaccines, and poor government response, the Indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon were in an extremely vulnerable position and at high risk during the pandemic.


text: In Venice, shortly after quarantine began (March 2020), water in the canals cleared and experienced greater water flow. The increase in water clarity was primarily caused by a decrease in boat traffic, which in turn, allowed the normally stirred up sediment to instead remain at the floor of the canals. In the year prior, during the initial onset of the coronavirus, organizations such as the European Space Agency detected the striking change between the water in the Venetian canals as the country became more and more contaminated. Two satellite images, one taken on April 19, 2019, and the other on April 13, 2020, showed the water in the canals transitions from a paler, teal coloration to a deeper blue. This showed the increase in the health of the water as the coronavirus set in across the country. Through this Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, the space agency's images captured the benefit of less transportive travel on Venice's waterways and highlighted that, despite the decline in tourists as the city shut down, the canals contained water far cleaner and safer for organisms and consumption than was the case previously. While the water in the Venetian canals cleared up due to the decrease in boat transportation and pollution, marine life returned to the area in far less numbers than previously believed. Although numerous social media posts depicted dolphins and other oceanic creatures venturing back to Venice's shores, National Geographic exposed the falsities behind these rumors, showing images captured in different places and debunking the hopes circulating around that the impact of COVID-19 contributed to healthier waters and a re-emergence of wildlife. Misinformation such as the claims made about animals infiltrating Venice's waterways have given people a distorted image of both the ongoing pandemic and climate change crises, concealing growing problems such as the city's current low tides.


text: In India, more than 28 million people were affected by the rapid transmission of the COVID-19 virus. As a result, the Government of India put the whole country on a full lockdown. While many suffered under these circumstances, both socially and financially, environmental researchers discovered significant improvements to environmental quality during the slow in human activity and travel. A metadata analysis of river water quality (RWQ) indicated that the rivers in Damodar, an urban-industrial area, had improved in quality. There was a reduction in pollution that led to this improvement in water quality. A second study conducted on the Damodar in January 2021 revealed a significant change of the water quality during the pandemic. In the pre-lockdown period, the Water Pollution Index (WPI) of samples from the river fell between 1.59 and 2.46, indicating a high level of pollution. In contrast, during the lockdown, the WPI for water samples ranged from 0.52 to 0.78, indicating that samples were either ‘good' or ‘moderately polluted' water. The significant improvement in the WPI suggested that the shutdowns of heavy industries and subsequent reduction of toxic pollutants led to an increase in water quality.


text: Similar to the river Damodar, the Ganga experienced significant improvements with regards to water quality. Specifically, DO levels increased, while BOD and nitrate concentrations decreased. The nationwide lockdown and subsequent shutdown of major industries not only increased river quality, but the quality of polluted creeks. In some regions, waste inflow was reduced up to 50%. Both studies point to a significant improvement in water quality as a result of India's complete lockdown. The changes were a result of a decrease in sewage and wastewater being discharged into the rivers. This was most likely because of Damodar's specific location in an industrial area. The industrial areas experienced extremely different levels of activity as a result of the lockdown, so the results of the water quality tests from before the pandemic and after were affected by the different levels of activity.


text: In addition to the above studies, research on India's longest lake, Vembanad Lake, in April 2020, showed that suspended particulate matter concentration decreased by 16% during early lockdowns.


text: As the first country affected by the pandemic, China had to quickly adapt new health and safety restrictions before any other nation in January 2020. Similar to other countries, numerous large industries in China shutdown during the COVID-19 lockdown. As a result, the water quality significantly improved. Results from monthly field measurements on river water quality in China showed improvements for several different indicators. Ammonia nitrogen (NH-N) was the first indicator to rapidly reduce after the lockdown, while dissolved oxygen (DO) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) started to show improvements in early-February 2020. The pH levels of the river water started to increase in late-March 2020. After the lockdown was lifted, a study conducted by scientists, Dong Liua, Hong Yang, and Julian R. Thompson, found that all water quality parameters returned to normal conditions. Because the conditions improved during a temporary lockdown period, this study suggested that future pollutant reduction strategies should be location-specific and sustained in order to maintain progress to protect the environment.


text: During the pandemic, developing countries in Africa didn't have the infrastructure, equipment, facilities, and trained staff to do widespread tests for COVID-19, so they used wastewater surveillance as a way to highlight hotspot areas, especially in the country of South Africa. This allowed them to discover where SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA existed in different wastewater after testing municipal wastewater (industrial wastewater), surface water (rivers, canals, dams), and drinking water. Traces of SARS-CoV-2 RNA were found in wastewater treatment facilities in the first phases of treatment, but once the water was treated there was no RNA detected. While the treated water was safe for drinking and other uses, the wastewater from the treatment facilities that drained into rivers or seas could still have some SARS-CoV-2 RNA, but it was too low to be detected which proved it to be unlikely. No other water source had detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA which led scientists of this experiment to see no prominent harm done from the pandemic on the water quality in South Africa.


text: The COVID-19 lockdown had a positive effect for the water quality of the Boukhalef River in northern Morocco. Researchers used Sentinel 3 water surface temperature (WST) values to test several locations along the Boukhalef River before and after the lockdown. Before the lockdown there were high WST values indicating poor water quality at these sites. However, after the lockdown, industrial activities greatly reduced their production and subsequent polluting of the water. As a result, there were normal WST values indicating normal water quality in the same sites.


text: A study of water use using the CityWat-SemiDistributed (CWSD) system analyzed how the lockdown during COVID-19 affected the water supply in England. Increases in household water consumption were attributed to increased use of appliances and preventative measures such as hand washing during lockdowns. A decrease in activity outside of the home was associated with a 35% increase in water use. As in other countries, England saw a decrease in transportation, such as daily commuting, in large cities, the result of which was a change in pollution concentration zones. Additionally, the rivers in London became less polluted, but water quality became worse near peoples' households. This minimized the continued pollution of larger rivers, but instead increased the pollution in smaller ones in suburban areas.


text: During the pandemic, surveys were distributed and data was collected in Ecuador to study the water quality of the ocean. Preliminary data suggested that the water appeared clearer and cleaner because of the lack of people swimming and visiting the beaches. Residents of the Salinas beach were surveyed on the quality of the water twice, 10 weeks apart, during quarantine. Using a 1-5 scale, with 1 being the worst quality and 5 being the best, participants said that during the 10 weeks, the quality went from a 2.83 to a 4.33. Off the coast of Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands also saw improvements in water quality during the pandemic. Researchers noticed the presence of more turtles, sea lions and sharks in the water because of the lack of pollution.


text: Unfortunately, sanitary water conditions became a concern in Ecuador during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was suggested that SARS-CoV-2 could be contracted through fecal matter from wastewater treatment plants. In Ecuador, only 20% of wastewater was treated before being discharged back into the water. The urban area of Quito, Ecuador was particularly affected by the lack of wastewater treatment. Its population of 3 million citizens represented an under-diagnosed demographic. At the time of testing, reports claimed that only 750 citizens were infected with COVID-19, but actual wastewater contamination showed a larger percentage of the population infected. Improper wastewater management during the COVID-19 pandemic may have infected Ecuador's citizens through water contamination.


text: The Bagmati River passes through the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, and with its tributaries, comprises a water basin that spans the Kathmandu valley. A July 2021 study revealed the Bagmati River basin saw considerable improvements in water quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reduced human activity caused a decrease in biological oxygen demand, an important indicator of bacteria levels in water, by 1.5 times the level before lockdowns were implemented.


text: A reduction in human activities due to COVID-19 mitigation measures resulted in less industrial wastewater dumping in the Nile River, the Nile's canals and tributaries, the Nile Delta, and several lakes in Egypt. Additionally, fewer tourist ships sailed the Nile, thereby minimizing the frequency of oil and gas spills. A decrease in shipping traffic through the Suez Canal also helped improve its water quality. Similar reductions in wastewater dumping and shipping traffic contributed to improving the quality of Egypt's coastal Mediterranean waters as well. After the onset of the pandemic, residents in Egyptian villages needed to purify their own water. The Zawyat Al-Na’ura village, for example, used ultraviolet rays as a water purification technique.


text: Water demand was impacted by the pandemic in myriad ways. Practicing good hygiene was one of the main protocols used to combat the pandemic. Frequent hand washing with soap and water for 20 seconds, disinfecting surfaces, and cleaning food containers as they came into the home, increased the demand for water.


text: Water demand increased in residential areas due to mandated lockdowns that kept people home. For example, home water use in Portsmouth, England increased by 15%, while non-residential use decreased by 17%. The increased water usage at home led to higher residential water bills, exacerbating financial stress to those impacted by the stay-at-home lockdowns mandated by the pandemic.


text: While some regions benefitting from lockdowns, water scarce regions severely suffered. For example, in Nevada, there was a 13.1% water usage increase within the first month of quarantine. Despite this increase in household water usage, businesses were using substantially less water. Furthermore, water usage at academic institutions declined by 66.2%. Cumulatively in all water sectors, during the first month of quarantine, there was a 3.3% uptick in overall water usage. Consequently, there were efforts to restrict household water usage because of the region's already scarce water supply. These measures included water rations and other limitations put on citizens for their water use such as, watering the grass.


text: Numerous public buildings were shutdown for significant amounts of time during the pandemic. The results of these shut downs were water quality issues such as mold in standing water in pipes and leaching. These became of concern as non-residential demand increased back to normal levels when the shut downs ended. The effects varied depending on the makeup of the non-residential sectors, however as a whole changes in water demand were seen. The changes in water demand also had notable impacts on water utilities. Utilities experienced significant revenue losses as total water usage dropped in many areas, and simultaneously multitudes of water bills went unpaid while businesses and non-commercial customers struggled financially. Some companies offered overtime and hazard pay to their employees as their work became increasingly essential, which led to increased operational costs. Industries that were part of the water supply chain experienced revenue losses as the industrial water demand declined.


text: In regions already facing barriers to water access across the globe, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Yemen, the pandemic exacerbated challenges. These preexisting inequalities relating to infrastructure and water access were likely a factor contributing to disparate impacts of the pandemic. The World Health Organization and UNICEF strongly recommended sanitary hand washing facilities to be the bare minimum for fighting COVID-19 and suggested that lack of access to these necessary facilities (for over 74 million people in the Arab regions) was responsible for putting people at very high risk of contracting COVID-19.


text: In some undeveloped countries, water utilities have worked with governments to temporarily suspend billing for vulnerable groups. This was an effort to mitigate the impact of using extra water during the pandemic while people were out of work. The implementation of this process caused a huge loss in revenue for water companies.


text: Fish prices and demand for fish decreased due to the pandemic in early 2020, and fishing fleets around the world sat mostly idle. German scientist Rainer Froese has said the fish biomass will increase due to the sharp decline in fishing, and projected that in European waters, some fish, such as herring, could double their biomass. As of April 2020, signs of aquatic recovery remain mostly anecdotal.


text: As people stayed at home due to lockdown and travel restrictions, many types of animals have been spotted roaming freely in cities. Sea turtles were spotted laying eggs on beaches they once avoided (such as the coast of the Bay of Bengal), due to lower levels of human interference and light pollution. In the United States, fatal vehicle collisions with animals such as deer, elk, moose, bears, mountain lions fell by 58% during March and April.


text: Conservationists expect that African countries will experience a massive surge in bush meat poaching. Matt Brown of the Nature Conservancy said that "When people don't have any other alternative for income, our prediction -- and we're seeing this in South Africa -- is that poaching will go up for high-value products like rhino horn and ivory." On the other hand, Gabon decided to ban the human consumption of bats and pangolins, to stem the spread of zoonotic diseases, as SARS-CoV-2 was thought to have transmitted itself to humans through these animals. Pangolins are no longer thought to have transmitted SARS-CoV-2. In June 2020, Myanmar allowed breeding of endangered animals such as tigers, pangolins, and elephants. Experts fear that the Southeast Asian country's attempts to deregulate wildlife hunting and breeding may create "a New Covid-19."


text: A wide variety of largely mammalian species, both captive and wild, have been shown to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, with some encountering particularly fatal outcomes. In particular, both farmed and wild mink have developed symptomatic COVID-19 infections, leading to a 35–55% mortality rate in one study. Other animals, such as white-tailed deer, have not exhibited as high mortality numbers but have effectively become natural reservoirs of the virus, with large numbers of free-ranging deer infected throughout the US and Canada, including approximately 80% of Iowa's wild deer herd.


text: Due to the sharp decrease in job opportunities during the pandemic, many unemployed individuals were hired to help illegal deforestation operations throughout the world, specifically in the tropics. According to the deforestation alerts from Global Land Analysis & Discovery (GLAD), a total of 9583 km of deforested lands were detected across the global tropics during the first month following the establishment of COVID-19 precautions, which was approximately two times that seen the year before, in 2019 (4732 km). The disruption from the pandemic provided cover for illegal deforestation operations in Brazil, which were at a 9-year high. Satellite imagery showed deforestation of the Amazon rainforest surging by over 50% compared to baseline levels. Conversely, unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic facilitated the recruitment of laborers for Pakistan's 10 Billion Tree Tsunami campaign to plant 10 billion trees – the estimated global annual net loss of trees – over the span of 5 years. Because the pandemic saw many authorities unemployed, poaching became much more popular during 2020 and 2021. In Columbia, illegal activities and wildfires were the two biggest factors contributing to the further destruction of the rainforests.


text: Deforestation has an impact on clean drinking water. One study showed that a 1% increase in deforestation decreases access to clean drinking water by 0.93%. Deforestation lowers water quality because it lowers the soil infiltration of water which causes a higher level of turbidity in the water. In countries that are not able to pay for drinking water treatment this poses a significant issue.


text: Societal shifts caused by the COVID-19 lockdowns – such as adoption of remote work policies, and virtual events – may have a more sustained impact beyond the short-term reduction of transportation usage. In a study published in September 2020, scientists estimate that such behavioral changes developed during confinement may reduce 15% of all transportation CO₂ emissions permanently.


text: Despite this, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was the highest ever recorded in human history in May 2020. Energy and climate expert Constantine Samaras states that "a pandemic is the worst possible way to reduce emissions" and that "technological, behavioral, and structural change is the best and only way to reduce emissions". Tsinghua University's Zhu Liu clarifies that "only when we would reduce our emissions even more than this for longer would we be able to see the decline in concentrations in the atmosphere". The world's demand for fossil fuels decreased by almost 10% amid COVID-19 measures and reportedly many energy economists believe it may not recover from the crisis.


text: In a study published in August 2020, scientists estimated that global NO emissions declined by as much as 30% in April but were offset by ~20% reduction in global SO₂ emissions that weakens the cooling effect and conclude that the direct effect of the response to the pandemic on global warming will likely be negligible, with an estimated cooling of around 0.01 ± 0.005 °C by 2030 compared to a baseline scenario but that indirect effects due to an economic recovery tailored towards stimulating a green economy, such as by reducing fossil fuel investments, could avoid future warming of 0.3 °C by 2050. The study indicates that systemic change in how humanity powers and feeds itself is required for a substantial impact on global warming.


text: In October 2020 scientists reported, based on near-real-time activity data, an 'unprecedented' abrupt 8.8% decrease in global CO₂ emissions in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, larger than during previous economic downturns and World War II. Authors note that such decreases of human activities "cannot be the answer" and that structural and transformational changes in human economic management and behaviour systems are needed.


text: In January 2021 scientists reported that reductions in air pollution due to worldwide COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 were larger than previously estimated. It was concluded that, because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the climate during that year, a slight warming of Earth's climate during the year was seen instead of a slight cooling. Climate models were used to identify small impacts that could not be discerned with observations. The study's lead author noted that aerosol emissions into the lower atmosphere have major health ramifications and can't be part of a viable approach for mitigating global warming. In contrast aerosol emissions into the upper atmosphere are not thought to be a health risk, but their environmental impact has not yet been properly researched.


text: A report by the London-based think tank Carbon Tracker concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic may have pushed the fossil fuel industry into "terminal decline" as demand for oil and gas decreases while governments aim to accelerate the clean energy transition. It predicts that an annual 2% decline in demand for fossil fuels could cause the future profits of oil, gas and coal companies to collapse from an estimated $39tn to $14tn. However, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance more than half a trillion dollars worldwide are currently intended to be poured into high-carbon industries. Preliminary disclosures from the Bank of England's Covid Corporate Financing Facility indicate that billions of pounds of taxpayer support are intended to be funneled to fossil fuel companies. According to Reclaim Finance the European Central Bank intends to allocate as much as €220bn (£193bn) to fossil fuel industries. An assessment by Ernst & Young finds that a stimulus program that focuses on renewable energy and climate-friendly projects could create more than 100,000 direct jobs across Australia and estimates that every $1m spent on renewable energy and exports creates 4.8 full-time jobs in renewable infrastructure while $1m on fossil fuel projects would only create 1.7 full-time jobs.


text: In addition, also due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry, natural gas prices dropped so low for a short time that gas producers were burning it off on-site (not being worth the cost to transport it to cracking facilities). Bans on single-use consumer plastic (in China, the European Union, Canada, and many countries in Africa), and bans on plastic bags (in several states in the USA) have also reduced demand for plastics considerably. Many cracking facilities in the USA were suspended. The petrochemical industry has been trying to save itself by attempting to rapidly expand demand for plastic products worldwide (i.e. through pushbacks on plastic bans and by increasing the number of products wrapped in plastic in countries where plastic use is not already as widespread (i.e. developing nations)).


text: During the pandemic, many people started cycling, causing bike sales to surge. Many cities set up semi-permanent "pop-up bike lanes" to provide people who switched from public transit to bicycles with more room. Many individuals chose cycling due to a heightened anxiety over public transportation. This was because public transportation could be crowded at times, raising the fear that one may catch COVID-19. Additionally, exercise became more popular during the pandemic, since lockdowns led to mass unemployment. These reasons led to a "bike boom". In Berlin, proposals exist to make the initially reversible changes permanent.


text: Small-scale farmers have been embracing digital technologies as a way to directly sell produce, and community-supported agriculture and direct-sell delivery systems are on the rise. These methods have benefited smaller online grocery stores which predominantly sell organic and more local food and can have a positive environmental impact due to consumers who prefer to receive deliveries rather than travel to the store by car. Online grocery shopping has grown substantially during the pandemic.


text: While carbon emissions dropped during the pandemic, methane emissions from livestock continued to rise. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.


text: Due to lockdowns and COVID-19 protocols, many consumers switched to online shopping during the pandemic, which resulted in a 32% increase in e-commerce. This caused an increase in packaging waste. Many online purchases were for essential items; however 45% of shoppers made non-essential purchases, such as clothing. There remains an ongoing debate about whether online shopping was more environmentally friendly than shopping in stores, and currently there is no conclusion as to which is best. Both online and in-person shopping had aspects that helped and hurt the environment. For example, shipping products to individual consumers could equally as detrimental to the environment as powering a brick and mortar shop. Another factor to consider was that 20% of online returns ended up in landfills because they could not be resold as new merchandise.


text: The substantial increase of plastic waste during the COVID-19 pandemic became a major environmental concern. The increased demand for single-use plastics exacerbated an already significant plastic pollution problem. Most of the new plastic found in oceans was generated from hospitals, shipping packages, and from personal protection equipment (PPE). In the first 18 months of the pandemic, approximately 8 million tons of waste had been accumulated. A significant portion originated from the developing world, and 72% of this waste was from Asia. This surplus of waste was particularly concerning for the oceans (and wildlife), and mainly accumulated on beaches and coastal regions.


text: In Kenya, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the amount of debris found on beaches; approximately 55.1% of trash found was a pandemic-related item. Although the pandemic-related trash showed up along the beaches of Kenya, it did not make its way into the water. This was thought to be the result of the closing of beaches and lack of movement during the pandemic. Most of the litter found washed up on the beaches were fabric masks. The amount of fabric masks being produced during the pandemic was on the rise for in Kenya for people who could not afford to buy single-use masks. More people were buying fabric masks then disposing of them improperly, which was the direct cause of many masks showing up on the coast or on the beaches. This was also why the beaches were closed during the pandemic.


text: Additional impacts of the pandemic were seen in Hong Kong, where disposable masks ended up along the beaches of Soko's islands. This was attributed to the increased production and use of disposable masks for personal and commercial use, which led to a rise in subsequent disposal of these products.


text: According to a study conducted by MIT, the effects of the pandemic are estimated to generate up to 7,200 tons of medical waste every day, much of which are disposable masks. The data was collected during the first six months of the pandemic (late March 2020 to late September 2020) in the United States. These calculations only pertained to healthcare workers, not including mask usage by the general public. Theoretically, if every health care worker in the United States wore a new N95 mask for every patient they encountered, the total number of masks required would be approximately 7.4 billion, at a cost of $6.4 billion. This would lead to 84 million kgs of waste. However, the same study also found that decontaminating regular N95 masks, thereby making the masks reusable, dropped environmental waste by 75% and fully reusable silicone N95 masks could offer an even greater reduction in waste. Another study estimated that in Africa, over 12 billion medical and fabric face masks were discarded monthly (an equivalent of 105,000 tonnes).


text: The majority of masks used during the pandemic were properly disposed, so, like typical garbage, incineration was used as the final disposal method in most countries. The process of incineration generally produced two types of ash; one was a slag residue, and one contained toxic substances (dioxins, plastics, and heavy metals). In the various stages of waste incineration, there was no absolute method that could completely clear away the harmful substances in the ashes. These substances caused damage to human health and caused irreversible damage to the earth's ecological environment. Secondary pollution was often found in the air, food, and wastewater as a result of incineration.


text: The quarantine restrictions implemented at many locations have had an impact on plastic waste volumes. Purchasing items, including food, online results in an increase in packaging waste. The pandemic significantly effected domestic waste recycling systems. Temporary suspension of household waste collection in some jurisdictions in order to protect waste workers reduced the supply of recyclable material. In the United States 34% of recycling companies partially or completely closed. In many Asian countries, including India, Malaysia and Vietnam, only around one-third of recyclers continued daily operations due to anti-pandemic measures. Many informal waste pickers have been seriously affected by stay-at-home orders and business closures. The poverty of informal workers in developing countries is expected to increase by 56%. Pressure on the existing waste management infrastructure has also led to poor quality waste management including dumping and open burning. In 2020 in Dublin, Ireland, illegal dumping increased by 25% and in the United Kingdom illegal waste disposal rose by 300%.


text: Some have noted that planned stimulus package could be designed to speed up renewable energy transitions and to boost energy resilience. Researchers of the World Resources Institute have outlined a number of reasons for investments in public transport as well as cycling and walking during and after the pandemic. Use of public transport in cities worldwide has fallen by 50-90%, with substantial loss of revenue losses for operators. Investments such as in heightened hygienic practices on public transport and in appropriate social distancing measures may address public health concerns about public transport usage. The International Energy Agency states that support from governments due to the pandemic could drive rapid growth in battery and hydrogen technology, reduce reliance on fossil fuels and has illustrated the vulnerability of fossil fuels to storage and distribution problems.


text: According to a study published in August 2020, an economic recovery "tilted towards green stimulus and reductions in fossil fuel investments" could avoid future warming of 0.3 °C by 2050.


text: Secretary-general of the OECD club of rich countries José Ángel Gurría, called upon countries to "seize this opportunity [of the COVID-19 recovery] to reform subsidies and use public funds in a way that best benefits people and the planet".


text: In March 2020, the ECB announced the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme. Reclaim Finance said that the Governing Council failed to integrate climate into both the “business as usual” monetary policy and the crisis response. It also ignored the call from 45 NGO's that demanded that the ECB deliver a profound shift on climate integration at this decision-making meeting. This, as it also finances 38 fossil fuel companies, including 10 active in coal and 4 in shale oil and gas. Greenpeace stated that (by June 2020) the ECB's covid-related asset purchases already funded the fossil fuel sector by to up to 7.6 billion.


text: The report, Are We Building Back Better?, from the Oxford University’s Global Recovery Observatory, found that of the $14.6tn spending announced by the world’s largest 50 countries in 2020, $1.9tn (13%) was directed to long-term ‘recovery-type’ measures, and $341bn (18%) of long-term spending was for green initiatives.


text: With the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak spreading rapidly within the European Union, the focus on the European Green Deal diminished. Some have suggested either a yearly pause or even a complete discontinuation of the deal. Many believe the current main focus of the European Union's current policymaking process should be the immediate, shorter-term crisis rather than climate change. In May 2020 the €750 billion European recovery package, called Next Generation EU, and the €1 trillion budget were announced. The European Green deal is part of it. One of the package's principles is "Do no harm". The money will be spent only on projects that meet some green criteria. 25% of all funding will go to climate change mitigation. Fossil fuels and nuclear power are excluded from the funding.


text: In 2021, Joe Biden announced the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 on March 11, 2021. He also announced the Build Back Better Plan.


text: Some sources of revenue for environmental projects – such as indigenous communities monitoring rainforests and conservation projects – diminished due to the pandemic.


text: Despite a temporary decline in global carbon emissions, the International Energy Agency warned that the economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may prevent or delay companies and others from investing in green energy. Others cautioned that large corporations and the wealthy could exploit the crisis for economic gain in line with the Shock Doctrine, as has occurred after past pandemics.


text: The Earth Overshoot Day took place more than three weeks later than 2019, due to COVID-19 induced lockdowns around the world. The president of the Global Footprint Network claims that the pandemic by itself is one of the manifestations of "ecological imbalance."


text: Approximately 58% of enterprises in the European Union are concerned about the physical hazards of climate change, particularly in areas prone to extreme weather. In 2021, climate change was addressed by 43% of EU enterprises. Despite the pandemic, the percentage of enterprises planning climate-related investment has climbed to 47%, from 41% in 2020. Future investments, however, are put on hold by uncertainty about the regulatory environment and taxation.


text: According to a 2022 analysis of the $14tn that G20 countries have spent as economic stimulus in 2020 and 2021, only about 6% has been allocated to areas "that will also cut emissions" and 3% has targeted activities "that are likely to increase global emissions".


text: Multiple organizations and organization-coalitions – such as think tanks, companies, business organizations, political bodies and research institutes – have created unilateral analyses and recommendations for investments and related measures for sustainability-oriented socioeconomic recovery from the pandemic on global and national levels – including the International Energy Agency, the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and Environment and the European Commission. The United Nations' Secretary General António Guterres recommended six broad sustainability-related principles for shaping the recovery.


text: According to a report commissioned by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy and published in July 2020, investment in four key ocean intervention areas could help aid economic recovery and yield high returns on investment in terms of economic, environmental and health benefits. According to Jackie Savitz, chief policy officer for America ocean conservation nonprofit Oceana, strategies such as "setting science-based limits on fishing so that stocks can recover, practicing selective fishing to protect endangered species and ensuring that fishing gear doesn't destroy ocean habitats are all effective, cost-efficient ways to manage sustainable fisheries".


text: The pandemic has also impacted environmental policy and climate diplomacy, as the 2020 United Nations Climate Change Conference was postponed to 2021 in response to the pandemic after its venue was converted to a field hospital. This conference was crucial as nations were scheduled to submit enhanced nationally determined contributions to the Paris Agreement. The pandemic also limits the ability of nations, particularly developing nations with low state capacity, to submit nationally determined contributions, as they focus on the pandemic.


text: "Time" highlighted three possible risks: that preparations for the November 2020 Glasgow conference planned to follow the 2015 Paris Agreement were disrupted; that the public would see global warming as a lower priority issue than the pandemic, weakening the pressure on politicians; and that a desire to "restart" the global economy would cause an excess in extra greenhouse gas production. However, the drop in oil prices during the COVID-19 recession could be a good opportunity to get rid of fossil fuel subsidies, according to the executive director of the International Energy Agency.


text: Carbon Tracker argues that China should not stimulate the economy by building planned coal-fired power stations, because many would have negative cashflow and would become stranded assets.


text: The United States' Trump administration suspended the enforcement of some environmental protection laws via the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the pandemic. This allows polluters to ignore some environmental laws if they can claim that these violations were caused by the pandemic.


text: Early in the pandemic, the perceived benefit to the environment caused by a slowdown in human activity led to the creation of memes. These memes generally made light of exaggerated or distorted claims of benefits to the environment, those overly credulous of these claims, and those who compared humanity to COVID, construing human civilization as a viral infection on Earth. Memes include the captioning images with phrases such as "nature is healing", "the Earth is healing", "we are the virus", or combinations of the phrases. One such joke, a tweet, featured a photo of a large rubber duck in the Thames with the text "nature is healing", construing the duck as a native species returning to the river in the absence of human activity.


text: In March 2020 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the National Trust initiated the #BlossomWatch campaign, which encouraged people to share images of the first signs of Spring, such as fruit tree blossoms, that they saw on lockdown walks.


text: In December 2021, when the first reported case of animal-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Hong Kong took place via imported pet hamsters, researchers expressed difficulty in identifying some of the viral mutations within a global genomic data bank, leading city authorities to announce a mass cull of all hamsters purchased after December 22, 2021, which would affect roughly 2,000 animals. After the government 'strongly encouraged' citizens to turn in their pets, approximately 3,000 people joined underground activities to promote the adoption of abandoned hamsters throughout the city and to maintain pet ownership via methods such as the forgery of pet store purchase receipts. Some activists attempted to intercept owners who were on their way to turn in pet hamsters and encourage them to choose adoption instead, which the government subsequently warned would be subject to police action.


text: The restarting of greenhouse-gas producing industries and transport following the COVID-19 lockdowns was hypothesized as an event that would contribute to increasing greenhouse gas production rather than reducing it. In the transport sector, the pandemic could trigger several effects, including behavioral changes – such as more remote work and teleconferences and changes in business models – which could, in turn, translate in reductions of emissions from transport. A scientific study published in September 2020 estimates that sustaining such behavioral changes could abate 15% of all transport emissions with limited impacts on societal well-being. On the other hand, there could be a shift away from public transport, driven by fear of contagion, and reliance on single-occupancy cars, which would significantly increase emissions. However, city planners are also creating new cycle paths in some cities during the pandemic. In June 2020, it was reported that carbon dioxide emissions were rebounding quickly.


text: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development recommends governments continue to enforce existing air pollution regulations after the COVID-19 crisis, and channel financial support measures to public transport providers to enhance capacity and quality with a focus on reducing crowding and promoting cleaner facilities.


text: Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, states that "the next three years will determine the course of the next 30 years and beyond" and that "if we do not [take action] we will surely see a rebound in emissions. If emissions rebound, it is very difficult to see how they will be brought down in future. This is why we are urging governments to have sustainable recovery packages."


text: In March 2022, before formal publication of the 'Global Carbon Budget 2021' preprint, scientists reported, based on Carbon Monitor data, that after COVID-19-pandemic-caused record-level declines in 2020, global emissions rebounded sharply by 4.8% in 2021, indicating that at the current trajectory, the 1.5 °C carbon budget would be used up within 9.5 years with a likelihood.


text: Chaos and the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic made a catastrophic future seem less remote and action to prevent it more necessary and reasonable. However, it also had the opposite effect by putting the focus on more immediate issues of the pandemic rather than larger global issues, such as climate change and deforestation.


text: The improvements caused by human inactivity during lockdowns were not an indication that climate change was improving long-term or that climate saving methods should be postponed. However, several international climate change conventions were postponed and, in some cases, not rescheduled. Notable examples were the postponement of the COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, the World Conservation Congress, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the U.N. Ocean Conference. These conferences were originally created so nations around the world could make concrete plans to ensure the safety of future generations. Though climate improvements seen during the lockdown provided hope for the future, as humans returned to normal activity, these changes proved to be temporary.


text: The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) announced that a worldwide reduction in aircraft flights due to the pandemic could impact the accuracy of weather forecasts, citing commercial airlines' use of Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay (AMDAR) as an integral contribution to weather forecast accuracy. The ECMWF predicted that AMDAR coverage would decrease by 65% or more due to the drop in commercial flights.


text: Seismologists have reported that quarantine, lockdown, and other measures to mitigate COVID-19 have resulted in a mean global high-frequency seismic noise reduction of up to 50%. This study reports that the noise reduction resulted from a combination of factors including reduced traffic/transport, lower industrial activity, and weaker economic activity. The reduction in seismic noise was observed at both remote seismic monitoring stations and at borehole sensors installed several hundred metres below the ground. The study states that the reduced noise level may allow for better monitoring and detection of natural seismic sources, such as earthquakes and volcanic activity.


text: Noise pollution has been shown to negatively affect both humans and invertebrates. The WHO suggests that 100 million people in Europe are negatively affected by unwanted noise daily, resulting in hearing loss, cardiovascular disorders, loss of sleep, and negative psychological effects. During the pandemic, however, government enforced travel mandates lowered car and plane movements resulting in significant reduction in noise pollution.


title: Church service

text: A church service (or a service of worship) is a formalized period of Christian communal worship, often held in a church building. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism. The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be taught the "Word of God" (the Christian Bible) and encouraged in their faith. Technically, the "church" in "church service" refers to the gathering of the faithful rather than to the building in which it takes place. In most Christian traditions, services are presided over by clergy wherever possible.


title: Church service

text: Styles of service vary greatly, from the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, and Lutheran traditions of liturgical worship to the evangelical Protestant style, that often combines worship with teaching for the believers, which may also have an evangelistic component appealing to the non-Christians or skeptics in the congregation. Quakers and some other groups have no formal outline to their services, but allow the worship to develop as the participants present feel moved.


title: Church service

text: The majority of Christian denominations hold church services on the Lord's Day (with many offering Sunday morning and Sunday evening services); a number of traditions have mid-week Wednesday evening services as well. In some Christian denominations, church services are held daily, with these including those in which the canonical hours are prayed, as well as the offering of the Mass, among other forms of worship. In addition to this, many Christians attend services on holy days such as Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Ascension Thursday, among others depending on the Christian denomination.


title: Church service

text: The worship service is a practice of Christian life that has its origins in the Jewish worship. Jesus Christ and Paul of Tarsus taught a new form of worship of God. As recorded in the gospels, Jesus met together with His disciples to share teachings, discuss topics, pray, and sing hymns.


title: Church service

text: The holding of church services pertains to the observance of the Lord's Day in Christianity. The Bible has a precedent for a pattern of morning and evening worship that has given rise to Sunday morning and Sunday evening services of worship held in the churches of many Christian denominations today, a "structure to help families sanctify the Lord’s Day." In and , "God commanded the daily offerings in the tabernacle to be made once in the morning and then again at twilight". In Psalm 92, which is a prayer concerning the observance of the Sabbath, the prophet David writes "It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night" (cf. ). Church father Eusebius of Caesarea thus declared: "For it is surely no small sign of God’s power that throughout the whole world in the churches of God at the morning rising of the sun and at the evening hours, hymns, praises, and truly divine delights are offered to God. God’s delights are indeed the hymns sent up everywhere on earth in his Church at the times of morning and evening."


title: Church service

text: The first miracle of the Apostles, the healing of the crippled man on the temple steps, occurred because Peter and John went to the Temple to pray (Acts 3:1). Since the Apostles were originally Jews, see Jewish Christians, the concept of fixed prayer times, as well as services therefore which differed from weekday to Sabbath to holy day, were familiar to them. Pliny the Younger (63 - ca. 113), who was not a Christian himself, mentions not only fixed prayer times by believers, but also specific services—other than the Eucharist—assigned to those times: "They met on a stated day before it was light, and addressed a form of prayer to Christ, as to a divinity ... after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble, to eat in common a harmless meal."


title: Church service

text: The real evolution of the Christian service in the first century is shrouded in mystery. By the second and third centuries, such Church Fathers as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Tertullian wrote of formalised, regular services: the practice of Morning and Evening Prayer, and prayers at the third hour of the day (terce), the sixth hour of the day (sext), and the ninth hour of the day (none). With reference to the Jewish practices, it is surely no coincidence that these major hours of prayer correspond to the first and last hour of the conventional day, and that on Sundays (corresponding to the Sabbath in Christianity), the services are more complex and longer (involving twice as many services if one counts the Eucharist and the afternoon service). Similarly, the liturgical year from Christmas via Easter to Pentecost covers roughly five months, the other seven having no major services linked to the work of Christ. However, this is not to say that the Jewish services were copied or deliberately substituted, see Supersessionism.


title: Church service

text: With respect to attire worn at church services, Christians have historically tended to wear modest clothes (cf. ). Men have traditionally removed their caps while praying and worshipping, while women have traditionally worn a headcovering while praying and worshipping (cf. ). These practices continue to be normative in certain churches, congregations, and denominations, as well as in particular parts of the world, such as in Eastern Europe and in the Indian subcontinent, while in the West, attention to these observances has waned generally (apart from those denominations that continue to require them, such as Conservative Anabaptist churches). In many nondenominational Christian churches, it may be customary, depending on the locality, for people to be dressed casually.


title: Church service

text: Contemporary worship services have their origins in the Jesus Movement of the 1960s. In the 1980s and 1990s, contemporary Christian music, comprising a variety of musical styles, such as Christian rock and Christian hip-hop was adopted by evangelical churches. Over the years, the organs have been replaced by pianos, electric guitars and drums. These contemporary worship services feature a sermon based on the Bible.


title: Church service

text: Worship service in Evangelical churches is seen as an act of God's worship. It is usually run by a Christian pastor. It usually contains two main parts, the praise (Christian music) and the sermon, with periodically the Lord's Supper.


title: Church service

text: With the 1960s' charismatic movement, a new conception of praise in worship, such as clapping and raising hands as a sign of worship, took place in many evangelical denominations.


title: Church service

text: In the 1980s and 1990s, contemporary Christian music, including a wide variety of musical styles, such as Christian Rock and Christian Hip Hop, appeared in the praise.


title: Church service

text: In the 2000s and 2010s, digital technologies were integrated into worship services, such as the video projectors for broadcasting praise lyrics or video, on big screens. The use of social media such as YouTube and Facebook to retransmit live or delayed worship services, by Internet, has also spread. The offering via Internet has become a common practice in several churches.


title: Church service

text: In some churches, a special moment is reserved for faith healing with laying on of hands during worship services. Faith healing or divine healing is considered a legacy of Jesus acquired by his death and resurrection.


title: Church service

text: The taking up of tithes and offerings (gifts made beyond the tithe) is a normative part of the worship services.


title: Church service

text: The main Christian feasts celebrated by the Evangelicals are Christmas, Pentecost, and Easter for all believers, among others depending on Christian denominations (cf. evangelical feasts).


title: Church service

text: "Quakers" (the Religious Society of Friends), like other Nonconformist Protestant denominations, distinguish between a church, which is a body of people who believe in Christ, and a 'meeting house' or 'chapel', which is a building where the church meets.


title: Church service

text: Quakers have both unprogrammed and programmed Meetings for Worship. Unprogrammed worship is based on waiting in silence and inward listening to the Spirit, from which any participant may share a message. In unprogrammed meetings for worship, someone speaks when that person feels that God/Spirit/the universe has given them a message for others. Programmed worship includes many elements similar to Protestant services, such as a sermon and hymns. Many programmed meetings also include a time during the service for silent, expectant waiting and messages from the participants.


title: Church service

text: Vocal music is traditionally sung by a choir or the congregation (or a mixture of the two), usually accompanied by an organ. Sometimes other instruments such as piano, classical instruments, or modern band instruments may be part of the service, especially in churches influenced by the contemporary worship movement. Some churches are equipped with state-of-the-art multi-media equipment to add to the worship experience. The congregation may sing along in hymnals or words to hymns and worship songs may be displayed on a screen. More liturgical denominations may have the words to specific prayers written in a missalette or prayer book, which the congregation follows.


title: Church service

text: Though the majority of services are still conducted in church buildings designed specifically for that purpose, some services take place in "store front" or temporary settings. For those unable to attend a service in a church building a burgeoning televangelism and radio ministry provides broadcasts of services. A number of websites have been set up as "cyber-churches" to provide a virtual worship space free to anyone on the internet.


title: Church service

text: Church services are often planned and led by a single pastor or a small group of elders or may follow a format laid out by the dictates of the denomination. Some churches are "lay led" with members of the congregation taking turns guiding the service or simply following format that has evolved over time between the active members. But most commonly, the pastor will preach a sermon (which may cover a specific topic, or as part of a book of the Bible which is being covered over a period of time). Depending on the church, a public invitation follows whereby people are encouraged to become Christians, present themselves as candidates for baptism or to join the congregation (if members elsewhere), or for other purposes.


title: Church service

text: A few begin their church services with the ringing of a bell (or a number of bells); a current trend is to have an introductory video which serves as a "countdown" to the beginning of the service. The service usually involves the singing of hymns, reading of scripture verses and possibly a psalm, and a sermon. If the church follows a lectionary, the sermon will often be about the scripture lections assigned to that day. Eucharistic churches have usually Holy Communion either every Sunday or several Sundays a month. Less liturgical congregations tend to place a greater emphasis on the sermon.


title: Church service

text: Many churches will take up a collection of money (offertory) during the service. The rationale for this is taken from , , and . But some churches eschew this practice in favor of voluntary anonymous donations for which a box or plate may be set up by the entrance, or return-address envelopes may be provided that worshippers may take with them. Offering through the Internet has become a common practice in many evangelical churches. On occasion, some churches will also arrange a second collection, typically occurring after Communion, for a specific good cause or purpose.


title: Church service

text: Some churches offer Sunday school classes. These will often be for younger children, and may take place during the whole of the service (while the adults are in church), or the children may be present for the beginning of the service and at a prearranged point leave the service to go to Sunday school. Some churches have adult Sunday school either before or after the main worship service.


title: Church service

text: Following the service, there will often be an opportunity for fellowship in the church hall or other convenient place. This provides the members of the congregation a chance to socialize with each other and to greet visitors or new members. Coffee or other refreshments may be served.


title: Church service

text: Church services take many forms, and set liturgies may have different names. Services typically include:


title: Church service

text: Places of worship are usually called "churches" or "chapels". Some services take place in theaters, schools or multipurpose rooms, rented for Sunday only.


title: Church service

text: IFES are groups of Evangelical students coming together on campuses in 150 countries around the world to share their ideas on the Bible.


title: Church service

text: Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International meetings are held in restaurants or hotels and Christian businessmen talk about their faith.


title: Butchered at Birth

text: Butchered at Birth is the second studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse. It was released in 1991 through Metal Blade Records.


title: Butchered at Birth

text: "Butchered at Birth" was the Cannibal Corpse album to establish their trademark death metal style, as many Cannibal Corpse fans say that their first album, "Eaten Back to Life", had more thrash elements to it. Chris Barnes' vocals became noticeably lower, as this is the first time fans experienced his associated "inhuman" grunting. Barnes is often credited with the sound change, as the album's producer, label and where it was produced are the same as "Eaten Back to Life".


title: Mykki Blanco

text: Mykki Blanco (born April 2, 1986) is an American rapper, performance artist, poet and activist. She has collaborated musically with artists including Kanye West, Teyana Taylor, and Blood Orange.


title: Mykki Blanco

text: Blanco was born in Orange County, California. Her father, Michael Quattlebaum Sr., was an IT specialist before becoming a psychic. Her mother, Deborah Butler, was a paralegal at the North Carolina Patent and Trademark Office. Her father's side is African-American Jewish. Blanco's parents divorced when she was 2 years old. As a child, she lived in San Mateo County, California, near her paternal grandparents, before moving to Raleigh, North Carolina. She attended Enloe High School.


title: Mykki Blanco

text: At the age of 15, Blanco won an Indies Spirit Award for the performance collective she founded, Paint In Consciousness Experimental Theater, in Raleigh.


title: Mykki Blanco

text: When Blanco was 16, she ran away from home before moving to New York City. She then spent time in California, before winning a full scholarship to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but dropped out of college after two semesters in 2006. She also briefly attended Parsons School of Design in New York City.


title: Mykki Blanco

text: Blanco's book of poetry, "From the Silence of Duchamp to the Noise of Boys", was published on OHWOW's imprint on June 17, 2011.


title: Mykki Blanco

text: In November 2012, Blanco released the mixtape "". The mixtape was produced by Brenmar, Flosstradamus, Gobby, Le1f, Boody, Matrixxman, and Sinden. She makes an appearance in the album "Junto" by Basement Jaxx.


title: Mykki Blanco

text: In 2013, Blanco released her second EP "". May 2014 saw the release of the "Spring/Summer 2014" EP, followed by her second mixtape "Gay Dog Food" in October. "Gay Dog Food" features a spoken word track with Kathleen Hanna, and contributions from Cities Aviv, Cakes Da Killa, and more.


title: Mykki Blanco

text: Blanco's ad-libs appeared on Teyana Taylor's song "WTP", from her June 2018 album "K.T.S.E."; she also has writing and production credits on the track. Blanco notably was not paid for these contributions until July 2020, more than two years later.


title: Mykki Blanco

text: In 2018, Blanco collaborated with Kanye West on the track "Bye Bye Baby" for West's scrapped album "Yandhi"; the track was later leaked.


title: Mykki Blanco

text: The persona Mykki Blanco began as a teenage girl character for a YouTube video in 2010, but evolved into a musical and performance art piece. Blanco's name is inspired by Lil' Kim's alter ego Kimmy Blanco. Her influences include Lil' Kim, GG Allin, Jean Cocteau, Kathleen Hanna, Lauryn Hill, Rihanna, Marilyn Manson, and Anaïs Nin. She is also inspired by the riot grrrl movement and queercore, namely the director Bruce LaBruce and the drag queen Vaginal Davis.


title: Mykki Blanco

text: Blanco has been called one of hip hop's queer pioneers; although she struggles to identify with the label of "gay rap" or "queer rap", she has begrudgingly "accepted it". Blanco also disagrees with those who portray her as a drag artist, saying "You can't tag me as the rapping transvestite. I never vogued in my life. I'm from a punk and Riot Grrrl background." Blanco has often described herself in terms of other artists, saying that she's not a "Marilyn Manson" or even a rapper, but rather says she wants to be Yoko Ono. In fact, her album "Mykki" was originally going to be named "Michael" in reference to Michael Jackson. Blanco, along with Rosie O'Donnell and Anderson Cooper, presented Madonna with the GLAAD Advocate for Change award on May 5, 2019, in Manhattan.


title: Mykki Blanco

text: Blanco has also tried to bring her "persona" closer and closer to her non-artist self, having to repeatedly say through interviews and alike that she is indeed transfeminine, and that the aesthetic evolution of Mykki Blanco over the years is the aesthetic evolution of her entire self, rather than just a "drag performance". Mykki Blanco places a lot of emphasis on her music videos and art performances, often taking complex and fresh new takes on her ever-moving aesthetic, and is constantly trying out new looks and performances just as genre-defying as her musical style.


title: Mykki Blanco

text: In June 2015, Blanco revealed via her Facebook page that she has been HIV positive since 2011. Blanco initially worried that being HIV positive would be detrimental to her career, saying of the decision to make finally that information public, "I did it for myself. At a certain point, my real life has to be more important than this career". She made this information public via Facebook during Pride season. Over 12,000 users liked the post and over 700 shared it.


title: Mykki Blanco

text: Blanco had expressed concern that the music industry would shut her down because of her public announcement: "I thought when I came out that was going to be the end," she says. "Mykki Blanco is fun. Talking about HIV is not fun. How could I be fun and have HIV?" She mentions that during that time period she had made plans to become an investigative journalist to report on LGBT issues on a global scale, yet that the flood of positive reactions in response to her coming out as HIV positive have made her determined to continue her artistry.


title: Political history of the Philippines

text: Early polities in what is now the Philippines were small entities known as barangays, although some larger states were established following the arrival of Hinduism and Islam through regional trade networks. The arrival of Spanish settlers began a period of Spanish expansion which led to the creation of the Captaincy General of the Philippines, governed out of Manila. While technically part of New Spain, the Philippines functioned mostly autonomously. The reliance on native leaders to help govern led to the creation of an elite class known as the "principalia". Spanish control was never firmly established over much of its claimed territory, with some inland and Islamic regions remaining effectively independent.


title: Political history of the Philippines

text: The 19th century saw a significant social change, and the development of a distinct "Filipino" identity among the mestizo elite. Members of the educated Ilustrado class, influenced by liberal ideas, launched the Propaganda Movement. Rejection by Spanish authorities led to a national awakening, the emergence of an independence movement, and a revolution which became entwined with the Spanish–American War. While the revolutionaries declared independence, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States in 1898. Through the subsequent Philippine–American War and later actions, the United States established effective administration over the entire archipelago and introduced political structures that reflected those of the United States.


title: Political history of the Philippines

text: The pre-existing elite was entrenched within the new political system, and the dominant Nacionalista Party steadily gained more control over its institutions. In 1935 the autonomous Commonwealth of the Philippines was established, giving the Philippines its own constitution and a powerful President. Plans for independence were interrupted by Japanese invasion during World War II. The Japanese established the nominally independent Second Philippine Republic, but American and Allied reconquest restored the Commonwealth and led to full independence in 1946. This period saw the emergence of a two-party system, with the Liberal Party and the Nacionalistas exchanging control of the country. Both parties were led by elites and shared similar politics. Early presidents had to contend with the left-wing rural Hukbalahap Rebellion.


title: Political history of the Philippines

text: The two-party system came to an end under President Ferdinand Marcos, who declared martial law in 1976. Despite strengthening Communist and Islamic separatist rebellions, Marcos retained firm control of the country until economic issues and disenchantment with corruption led to greater opposition. Opponents consolidated around Corazon Aquino, the widow of an assassinated opposition politician. After Marcos was declared winner of a snap election in 1986, military and public protests led to the People Power Revolution which removed Marcos and installed Aquino. A new constitution increased the limits of Presidential power, including creating a single-term limit. Since then, an unstable multi-party system has emerged on the national level, which has been challenged by a series of crises including several attempted coups, a presidential impeachment, and two more public mass movements. This period also saw some political power decentralized to local government and the establishment of the autonomous Bangsamoro region in Muslim Mindanao.