Coronavirus, an unexpected “house warming” gift from China, sent to every corner of the world. It is toxic and curable but not at such a pace as to save everyone. There are 590,594 confirmed cases around the globe, 130,865 of which have been recovered. Italy has reported 900 deaths in a day, the US passes a $2 trillion bailout, the largest in the country’s history. The virus is toxic, communicable but can be called as an environment healer.
Right now, it is an urgency to stay home. The balance cycle of nature has gone through many changes, technological, ecological, industrial etc., which affect the balance of nature. Humans are odd, in order to reach the top of the world, we forget the reason for our existence. And now, the world is under construction. The nature is healing and the man is trapped inside the house. Earth is closed and its time for nature to return to reality, where it can heal and bloom.
The most alive place on Earth, New York City, is right now the most silent place. It has reported 26,000 deaths till now. On March 25th, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, declared country lockdown. Every state, every street shut down for 21 days. This strategy is very intelligent, not a single human will leave the house and therefore, there won’t be any new cases. Let nature be alive again while the hazardous species rest inside the house.
In four weeks to March 1st, China’s CO2 emissions fell 200 million tonnes, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
The air is cleaner, the water is translucent and the fauna is quite visible. The animals are free from any danger, the forests are free to grow. But for how long? When the lockdown ends, the world has to restart, the economy has to watch its demand and supply. China is the centrepiece of the economy for various products across the globe and the market has to grow. In order to reboot, the pace will be greater for the production of products. The industry will be alive more than ever and the possibility of pollution is likely to grow which will lead to another hazardous environment. For a better environment, the solution is quite simple. The environment has to be the number one priority as everything ceases to exist without it.
According to the Executive Director of the Environment Programme, Anderson, “At the end of the day, nature is sending us a message. There are too many pressures on our natural systems and something has to give. We are intimately connected to the nature, whether we like it or not. If we don’t take care of nature, we can’t take care of ourselves. As we hurtle towards a population of 10 billion people on this planet, we need to go into this future armed with nature as it’s strongest ally.”
To conclude, humans change the environment as per their needs and if we don’t change our habits, there will be no future. We should have nature’s back with less industrial pollution, better drainage systems and pressing pause on our pace to reach on top. Nature will have our back with fresh air, clean water and lesser pollution. After this outbreak, it is the responsibility of the people to protect the flora and fauna. It is weird how humans actually need a virus to have cleaner hands and blue skies.
While the world is having waves of bad news, the virus is a blessing in disguise for the environment.
By Yumna Fatima
Literary Sources: BBC News, India Today
