Corona Virus a calamity or blessing?

Earth is breathing again! Now that the whole world is locked down to save themselves from the ferocious virus, the Earth has started healing.

              Locked down and quarantined just like the rest of the world, where everyone is busying themselves in activities indoors, I have been giving more time to reading too. Being a passionate reader I started reading “The Forty Rules of Love” by Elif Shafak, whose story revolves around thirteenth-century poet, Rumi and his spiritual leader, Shams. As I proceeded reading this book and the rules of love by Shams of Tabraiz, I came across a rule which caught my attention. The rule states

                       

         “Whatever happens in your life, no matter how troubling things may seem, do not enter the neighborhood of despair. Even when all doors remain closed, God will open up a new path for you. Be thankful! It is easy to be thankful when all is well. A Lightworker is thankful not only for what he/she has been given but also for what he/she has been denied.”

This rule caught my attention and left me thinking about the pandemic that the world is fighting at the moment. Is it truly a calamity or a blessing? This virus has turned into a global epidemic and affected at least 170 countries in the world resulting in complete lockdown and people practicing social distancing. However, with all this going on, there is a silver lining, as the lockdown has contributed to a noticeable drop in pollution and greenhouse gas emission.

Earlier in November 2019 based on the data that scientists collected and analyzed, Dr. Thomas Newsome of the University of Sydney’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences said:

 “Scientists have a moral obligation to warn humanity of any great threat. From the data we have, it is clear we are facing a climate emergency.”

Although scientists kept warning for decades about the risk to humanity and Earth posed by unfettered burning of fossil fuels, in 2019- set to be the second hottest year in the history. This was the decade that Climate change slapped us in the face. A number of researches wrote about the final countdown of earth, and how the time is running out to stop irreversible climate change. In this climate emergency, the outbreak of coronavirus has unintended climate benefits. The coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, China. As it spread rapidly across the other regions, the government locked down the whole city. Industrial operations were halted, all kinds of transportations were paused, which according to research by Lauri Myllyvirat, an analyst at the center of research on Energy and clean Air in Finland, contributed to a 25 percent drop in China’s carbon dioxide emission over four weeks.

Pollution monitoring satellites operated by NASA and the European Space Agency observed a drastic decrease in air pollution over the countries which are practicing lockdown. Nitrogen dioxide emissions, a major air pollutant, are closely linked to the factory output and vehicles operating on road. As both come to a halt during this pandemic, a drastic decline has been observed by NASA, in Nitrogen dioxide emissions over recent months, particularly across China and Italy. That’s not all: the canals in Venice are clearer than what they have been in nearly 60 years. Furthermore, the lockdown will have a significant effect on land and water pollution in too, as the primary source of these types of pollution is man, which is practicing social distancing religiously, hence leaving the world a better place to live. However, experts have warned the reductions and changes to be temporary, countries and economies bounce back and so will the emissions and level of pollution.

“Sometimes the purpose of the thorn is simply to draw attention to the rose”

Furthermore, another bright side of the lockdown is that millions of people are getting quality time to spend with their families. Where everyone was busy in their social and working life, the family life was being compromised. The essential factor that helps to create strong bonds, connections and positive relations among family members, was reduced to a minimum. Now that there is an opportunity family should try to enjoy having more spare time than usual, and involve children in indoor tasks and make up for the time lost because of their busy schedules.

This global pandemic has drawn our attention to another deadly reality of climate change and all the factors contributing to it. That leaves a huge responsibility on every living being on this planet, to take a moment and think about the things that we value. Do we want to go back to the time where the earth was dying because of the devastating impact of climate change or do we want to tackle these problems by restructuring our policies?