In late December 2019, the COVID-19 virus suddenly emerged. In March 2020, the WHO officially declared it as a pandemic, due to its rapid spread. The outbreak of this virus has affected all our lives, especially from a health perspective. The exponential increase and the fatality of the virus caused a worldwide lockdown. This lockdown brought about drastic impacts on the social and economic state of the world, most of which were negative. However, the world coming to a halt presented positive effects on the environment. The earth finally started healing during the lockdown.
Some visible effects were clearer skies and cleaner waterways due to most industries and airports being closed. Stepping out of our homes only when required reduced traffic congestion. Social gatherings not being allowed reduced noise pollution. The air quality in most Indian cities improved considerably. Another effect was the reduced seismic noise detected in some regions and the decline of greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite this, the lockdown, in the bigger picture, has still had little to no impact on our environment. This is because as soon as we start going back to the way we lived two years ago, all our progress is lost and we are back to the starting point.
The question now arises, how do we prevent the environment from going back to square one? The first thing we must understand is that the positive change in our surroundings was solely due to the fact that we all stayed at home. It is obviously impossible for us to stay at home for the rest of our lives. However, we need to realise that we are the ones causing harm to our surroundings. The first step to bringing about any change is acceptance. We must contribute as much as possible because even a little effort is better than no effort at all.
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