Technological advancements have been seen throughout the two decades of the twenty-first century. Man has made progress in a vast range of fields. The Internet is now a common thing which wasn’t so back in the late 1990s. The Internet is the main platform for all the development and growth of the world. But in the midst of all this humanity has lost its touch with nature.
The Pandemic being the talk of the year, claiming millions of lives and great loss of property. But there seems to be one thing that flourished throughout the year that is nature.
Nature all around the world is depleting at an extraordinary rate. Up to a million species of plants and animals are standing at the verge of extinction, due to human activities. Forest fires in North America, Australia and Africa kill thousands of animals, destroy lives and wipe out thousands of acres of forest within a span of few days. Since the late nineteen-hundreds, there has been an average of 60% population decline across all vertebral species.
Along the same time line 50% of coral reefs across the oceans have been lost and over a third of wetlands too. Meanwhile, the emission of greenhouse gases have only increased day by day with every passing decade and has successfully resulted in extreme weather conditions. The rise in water levels of the oceans is a result of glaciers melting on the poles, due to ozone depletion.
2020 has caged humans in their houses and let Mother Nature take the lead. With hardly any human interference for the majority of the year here are some amazing things that took place in nature during this quarantine.
Clear skies.
In India air pollution is a huge issue, with the amount of vehicles that run the road daily, and the factories have led to heavy air pollution. The hasty imposed lockdown shut everything, trapping billions of people at home. This sudden change resulted in the siting of Himalayan range, from their homes, for people living in northern states, for the very first time. In the capital Delhi the levels of nitrogen dioxide has reduced 70%, showing drastic improvement. This is the condition of many big cities worldwide.
Increase in growth of Vegetation.
Space research institutes claim that the increase in growth of forests can be seen clearly through space. The limited human interference in nature has really flourished its growth, and the proof is evident. Regions in India and neighbouring countries have seen significant forest restoration. The wildfire in Australia early this year, had greatly wiped out the forest area. New growth has been spotted in the latter half of the year. In all this year was an amazing opportunity for nature to restore its previous balance.
Wildlife on streets.
Many states in the US have claimed animal citing in cities. Looks like due to the calm that the lockdown has created wildlife is taking a walk along the streets. There has been a significant decrease in the number of endangered species, due to government plans along with no human disturbance. Wildlife is getting back on track.
This was all about the positive effect of the COVID-19 virus on the environment. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section, share and like, stay tuned for more such articles.
