Healing Mother Earth is no quick fix
Numerous social media posts and stories are pouring out about how Mother Earth is healing itself during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Pandemics are not new to our history, neither is the zoonotic (from animals to people) spread. The skies are certainly quieter so there’s less noise pollution, and the air is cleaner as the world’s greenhouse gases and atmospheric nitrogen dioxide levels have dropped dramatically because the world seems to have come to a grinding halt. But is this enough?
The earth is healing itself and trying to impose the truth that the planet earth is not only for humans pic.twitter.com/evDlL7kGKv
— Stranger (@pathy0251997) March 30, 2020
The earth is around 4,5 billion years old and has been in good health for 99% of this time, according to scientists, but every now and then it appears as if the earth needs to take a break to heal itself. We’ve had fires (look at Australia), hurricanes (look at the States), volcanoes in various places, floods, landslides and so the list goes on.
And so, come 2020, we have the Covid-19 version of the coronavirus, bringing the earth to a dramatic standstill. And, when you glance at pictures, the signs are amazing.
https://www.facebook.com/andrew.katay.5/videos/10159430198633219/
Wildlife is returning to our streets and our coastlines, the canals in Venice have cleared, the ozone layer has improved and climate change has been put on hold, and a 90-million-year-old rainforest has been discovered under the Antarctic ice.
But STOP. These are the things dreams are made of. Let’s look at a few of the trending posts and see for ourselves. Yes, the ozone layer over the Antarctic has shrunk considerably but not because of virus fallout, but rather due to 1987 International Treaty – the Montreal Protocol – in which the use of CFCS was banned in aerosols.
https://twitter.com/BoseAnibrata/status/1246689861198852097
The water in the Venice canals is certainly clearer, but that is because boat traffic has been halted so the sediment has dropped back down to the bottom. There is no boat motor pollution and we can see the fish under the water again. Yes, there are swans and, near the sea, some dolphins but they are not a new phenomenon.
The discovery of the rainforest under the Antarctic ice is also not a result of the virus, but the result of climate change, making it easier for scientists to work in these areas.
The world’s biodiversity is much like the earth’s immune booster and works to keep the world healthy. So, as species of plants and animals disappear, the world’s ability to heal itself effectively is compromised.
https://www.facebook.com/momoi.supe/posts/10157468359415345
You cannot blame one group of people specifically for this outbreak. You have to look at the globe as a whole. People are forced to live more and more in one another’s space.
Forests are wiped out for manufacture, agriculture and meat production, creating a huge loss of habitat. People and wild animals interact more leading to poaching bushmeat, sometimes in order to survive, sometimes in the archaic belief that eating certain animals heals us or gives us certain powers.
https://www.facebook.com/TheNewars.Nepal/posts/2005607292897664
It is almost certain that the Covid-19 virus started in a wet-meat market in China. These markets are so-called because of the melting ice for meat and vegetable produce and the water used to wash away the blood of slaughtered animals which are kept alive in tiny cages until they are bought and/or slaughtered.
It is also almost certain that the disease was spread from a bat to a pangolin and then to man. These markets need to be permanently closed.
When Wuhan closed down, the greenhouse gas emissions decreased dramatically, according to NASA researchers. However, as life picks up again, these emissions will increase right back to normal.
https://www.facebook.com/valanitinkumar90/videos/544426223170437/
Unless the world takes a collective decision to decide what the new normal should be. Less materialistic greed perhaps? More simplistic lives maybe? More people working from home possibly?
More online meetings? Fewer overseas trips? It will take all of us to make a difference.
