By Siti Nurzahra Rusdi
From Asia to Europe and to the United States, the COVID 19 pandemic has gained worldwide attention on how dangerous the spread could be. This pandemic is an unprecedented global crisis. No one is expecting this crisis to have a tremendous effect on our daily lives. In one sentence, one could say that COVID 19 is a human disaster – and yet, despite the damage it brings, COVID-19 gives a glimpse of hope for our planet.
As countries have implemented lockdowns and social distancing measures, many great things have happened to our planet. Clear and blue skies, the sounds of bird chirping are more apparent, and marine life has started to show signs of increase in activity.
Recently, a video on jellyfish swimming through the canals in Venice has gone viral on the Internet. The water in the canals is clearer and transparent because the number of boat traffic was declining significantly. Hence, the sights of fishes that reside in the canal are clearly visible, even in the middle of the town. If you have not yet seen it, I would highly recommend it for you to do so!
Apparently not only fishes were spotted in the canal, the image of seabird was spotted swimming across the water in a Venice canal. Besides, it is also reported that mountain goats which normally can be seen in the mountain, were spotted roaming in the streets of Llandudno, Wales. Well, it sounds funny, but it seems that animals have started to go out on the streets and roaming in the city in search for food or just to have fun. And I feel like we are living in the Jumanji where animals are free to roam around the city.
By now, it is not a surprise to see less traffic on the road, even the demands of air travel have dropped significantly. I believe, at this time, the world has seen no use of travelling either by air or by road. People are ‘keener’ to stay at home rather than being outside. This has resulted in the massive fall of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Besides less traffic and fewer plans, the policy to temporarily shut down factories and businesses has also contributed greatly in the declining of CO2 emission.
I would not deny that the shutdowns of factories and businesses have greatly impact people’s lives. The implementation was devastating, forcing thousands or probably millions of workers to be unemployed. However, the effect that these implementations give is somewhat a gift to our nature. As some people said, “it is like the nature is reclaiming back what once belongs to them”.
For the first time in decades, the peak of the Himalaya mountain can be seen in Punjab. People in Punjab, India claimed that they can see the sight of the Himalayas for the first time in 30 years. This is only possible because the air pollution level in India has plummeted since the lockdown. Many of the residents in Punjab have shared and posted the views from their place.
Source: CNN/Twitter
Meanwhile, the air quality has improved in California as confirmed by University of California’s professors and the Environmental Protection Agency in April. According to the data provided by Environmental Protection Agency, the air quality in Southern California has improved by 20% as traffic across the state has decreased to 80%, according to CNN. Whereas in Malaysia, Minister of Environment and Water, Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said that the air quality in several locations including Shah Alam, Seremban and Ipoh has showed improvement since the first phase of movement control order (MCO).
A senior lecturer at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Department of Earth Science and Environment, Dr. Shahrul Mohd Nadzir, shared his analysis on the reading of the air quality sensors owned by the Petaling Jaya City Council which shows that the carbon monoxide was reduced by 50% to 60% and the atmospheric aerosol particles have decreased by 20% to 30% in Petaling district, according to The Malaysian Reserve.
True or not, the pandemic crisis has shifted the nature of the world. Nature has started to reclaim their rights on this planet. Blue skies, clean air, and roaming animals – these have become a new scenery during this time. However, a question that I believe most people will ask – how long will these moments of nature last?
It does not take long for this moment to be gone. Once the pandemic is over, most likely people will forget everything. Factories and business will be operating as usual, heavy traffics on the roads and planes in sky will never stop. As in China, it only takes less than three months after the lockdown was lifted, for the air pollution levels to increase again in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The curve of air pollution level in China is inclining, as shared by South China Morning Post.
The fate of our nature will remain uncertain for as long as this crisis remains. No one knows what will happen in the future. Will nature go back to its polluted and dangerous state? Or will humans try to be more sustainable and responsible to maintain the moment of nature that we are experiencing now? Or is the answer to have a better environment means to have another pandemic? My sincere hope is that we would be able to maintain this state of nature for a longer time. We do not need another pandemic to heal nature.***