Mother Nature Reclaims Italy Amidst Coronavirus Quarantines

​worldanimalnews.com/nature-miraculously-reclaims-italy-in-the-midst-of-the-coronavirus-shutdown/

While the world awaits its next move regarding the coronavirus, quarantines across the globe have worked towards stalling the progression of the virus. One of the most interesting and frankly, magical takeaways from this period of isolation, is how quickly mother nature rebounded from years of human related abuse. 

There have been various reports of air pollution dropping across the globe with the lack of air travel and industries polluting the air. What triggered this post was the photos of Italy where nature has reclaimed its place throughout the nation. Photos emerged of the canals of Venice completely crystal clear, abundant with fish, blue and beautiful once again. Swans returned to the canals, floating above the clear, sparkling blue water. Ducks returned to some of the fountains across the nation where they would normally avoid because of the crowds. Wild boars have been photographed roaming the streets, dolphins have returned to the docks on the nation's coasts, etc., what exactly does this implicate?

What this indicates to me is that mother nature is aching to heal herself, but she needs our help to do so. What this proves is that with the right measures in place, we can actually reverse some of the damage we have done to this planet. We can help animals to live in harmony with us, both enjoying the fruits of our planet in harmony. We can reduce our pollution, we can clean our waters, we can achieve these things if we take the time to put measures in place. This quarantine has proven without argument that our involvement in the planet's pollution and destruction are wholly evident. It has proven that we are to blame for the condition of our planet and the struggles we face because of our actions. In only a  month, there have been so many improvements that have emerged from this horrible situation. What does this mean for us after everything is over?

Image taken from World Animal News

The major takeaway from all of this is that we need to make a change, collectively as a global community. We need to review what we are doing to this planet and look at ways to reduce our impact. How can we do this? 

Image taken from World Animal News

• VEHICULAR TRAVEL - Companies should offer incentives to drivers who are willing to carpool. By offering these drivers a financial incentive, we can reduce the amount of cars on the road every day.
• Continue to promote the benefits of public transit. Improve the services and make them more appealing. Offer incentives to people who willingly use public transit over driving in to work. Reduction in insurance costs, reduction on the cost of a monthly public transit pass etc.

• AIR TRAVEL - We need to heavily restrict the use of private planes. Create a safe space on commercial flights for those who would regularly utilize private flying. There's no need for private flying when commercial flights are already available and accessible. 
• MEAT CONSUMPTION - We all know that the agriculture / livestock industry is one of the leading contributors of greenhouse gases. Continue to heavily promote a reduction in our consumption of meat and dairy. Offer incentives to families who willingly reduce their meat / dairy intake in favour of plant based food. Perhaps you send them coupons for plant based foods or recipes in their mailbox for vegetarian main courses. If we all collectively reduced by even one or two days a week, the demand would drop significantly which would in turn reduce the amount of emissions.
• CHILD CAPS - Although this might seem extreme, we are approaching almost 9 billion people on this planet and we show no signs of slowing down. I suggest mandatory census' to monitor family size and a suggested cap of two children per household. This will stall our growth and reduce the amount of land we require to inhabit. In doing so, we can stall the progress of deforestation and habitat loss for so many plants and animals on this planet.
• CONTINUED TREE PLANTING / PROTECTING OF ECOSYSTEMS - There is no greater investment in our future than our planet. First of all, we must increase the amount of protected lands throughout the world where we commit to no infrastructure whatsoever. Secondly, tree planting is a crucial investment in the quality of the air we breath now, and in the foreseeable future. We are destroying our planet and should at the very least be attempting to replenish what we are destroying at a comparable pace.

These are just some of the suggestions I've either come up with or adapted from already proposed suggestions available. There's so much at stake when it comes to our planet and if this quarantining has shown us anything, it's that mother nature wants to heal. It wants us to take action and wants to regrow and replenish itself. It's up to us to do the right thing to ensure every generation after us has a clean and most of all, inhabitable planet.

HAPPY VEG