As people around the world are encouraged to stay in their homes to stop the spread of the COVID-19, air pollution has plummeted, animals are appearing in numerous well-known cities and towns, and the water in the oceans, lakes, and rivers have been reported sparkling clean. Due to the decrease in transportation such as cars, trains, and planes and the temporary pause of many non-environment friendly actions that could have put harm on Earth’s way, global warming has declined to great outcomes. Conservation scientist, Stuart Pimm of Duke University, states,

“This pandemic is giving us this quite extraordinary insight into just how much of a mess we humans are making of our beautiful planet,”

Wild animals have started exploring the cities and coming out of their habitats while humans are staying home. A cougar was spotted patrolling the streets of Santiago, Chile, and was seen jumping onto a wall. A group of coyotes wandered down to visit the great Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA, and a family of wild boars was seen eating scraps of food left in the trash cans in Haifa, Israel. Many types of dolphins such as the bluenose were also noticed in Bosphorus, Istanbul swimming further up than usual. This should make us realize that the Earth does not belong to us: we belong to the Earth and this beautiful planet is supposed to be shared among all living beings.

An article published by the Economic Times, states that world carbon pollution has fallen by 17% giving us clean and fresh air to breathe. Global warming has significantly decreased too, saving glaciers and eliminating excessive heat from ruining freezing places such as Antarctica and the Arctic. On India TV News it was said that sites that were not able to be seen before such as the Himalayas from Punjab are visible now and in India, the Ganges river is so clean that it can be drinkable too.

Even after the COVID-19 pandemic is over, we should continue to save and share the Earth with other living beings and be grateful to Mother Nature. We should try to maintain the clean air that surrounds us now and lower the chances of pollution affecting our planet.

“When we heal the Earth, we heal ourselves.” – David Orr