COVID-19 Special Edition
Pandemic Response by C4E and PCCRC Affiliates

Tim Mossholder | Unsplash

Dear Colleagues:

On many fronts over the past few months, Purdue and our faculty have been taking the lead and contributing to local, state, national and international responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in areas ranging from analyzing airflow on airplanes to establishing pathways for conducting and processing tests for the virus.

In several areas specific to the environment, affiliates in both the Center for the Environment and the Purdue Climate Change Research Center have made important contributions to Purdue’s response in areas ranging from water and food safety to implications of the pandemic for climate change, food chains and agricultural practices.

In this week’s special edition, we highlight the critical work being done by our affiliates and encourage you to keep us informed of additional research and related work being done by you and others.

Engaging Safely with our Surroundings

From opening up our campus buildings, to cleaning our homes, and to preparing to jump into our pools and lakes for the first time, affiliates of the Center for the Environment have been on hand on local and national levels to provide guidance, appease jitters and help us all adapt to our ‘new normal’ for summer 2020 and beyond.

Farmers, Agriculture, and Impacts on our Food Supply

After being concerned about having household disinfectants, paper towels and toilet paper on hand, many Americans worried about our food supply and related food production and distribution chains. Center affiliates have been contributing to this conversation through individual and group engagement through various publication outlets and new research projects.

Data Science, Human Behavior, and Improving Responses to COVID-19

COVID-19 loves densely populated spaces. As we have seen in situations such as Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, beach parties in Miami, and even large funerals in Williamsburg, New York, peoples’ behaviors provide keys to how governments and policy makers might need to suggest, regulate or even mandate public movement and behavior to mitigate virus transmission.

PCCRC Weighs In: Is This the Perfect Time, or the Worst Time, to Bend the Climate Change Curve?

Countries, states, and communities around the world are rightly focused on the urgent task of minimizing the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and thinking about how to plan for an economic recovery—but what are the implications for efforts to address the climate change crisis?

Here are 6 takeaways from a conversation with experts from Purdue University, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and republicEn (Energy & Enterprise Initiative).

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Climate Change Impacts and COVID-19 explored by affiliates of both PCCRC and C4E

We’ve all seen the headlines. Clear canals in Venice. Feral boars reclaiming southern European towns. Deering making use of a crosswalk in Japan. Smog filled cities suddenly clear, emancipated from chronic pollution. And anecdotal accounts are everywhere that the global slowdown due to COVID-19 is giving nature and the environment a chance to heal--to a point.

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Additional Features

The Future of Sustainable Travel

For most of us, it has been several months since we’ve traveled anywhere, and though we may be eagerly anticipating our next trip, that travel likely won’t look the same. Jonathon Day, Center affiliate and Associate Professor of HTM has weighed in on the topic of sustainable tourism and what the travel industry may expect in upcoming months.

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From Cows to People

When you think of COVID-19, the first thing that comes to mind probably isn’t cows. However, that’s exactly the link that Center affiliate and Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering Mohit Verma is exploring to try and increase testing abilities for the novel Coronavirus.

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