The Meaning Of The COVID-19 Pandemic For The Environment

Illustration (Detha Arya Tifada / VOI)

JAKARTA - In the midst of the great panic among the world's citizens in the face of the coronavirus or COVID-19, there is a dilemma. On the one hand, the corona virus is bringing a hard blow to the global economy. The unexpected side, this virus actually brings fresh air to the environment. Take, for example, Italy for example.

The country, which is included in the top five list of COVID-19 cases, was finally understood after the Italian government through Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte began treating the lockdown in the Northern Province of Lodi in Lombardy on February 21. However, because the rate of the corona virus began to expand, inevitably since March 9, Italy extended the lockdown time, even covering all of Italy.

The blessing of these regulations, Spaghetti Country felt the atmosphere of empty streets, quiet airports, decreased pollution and no longer heard of tourists going back and forth for the first time. If traced, the other most obvious effects are in two cities, namely Venice and Cagliari.

By foreign tourists, Venice is often used as the main destination when visiting Italy for beautiful reasons and full of romance. As reported by abcnews , now, because the crowd is no longer there, “the canals that were usually a bit dark have turned clear. As a result, people could immediately see fish swimming underneath. "

After a week of lockdown ... The canals in Venice are all clear and full of fishes. Kinda gives you the idea what will happen to Earth without Humans! pic.twitter.com/FVc7N8vmty

- TheSpaceAcademy.org✨🔭 (@ThespaceAcad) March 17, 2020

It's different from Venizia, it's different for Cagliari. Quoted from esquire , the blessing of the lockdown , the fish then took over the city and reclaimed the space previously occupied by humans. Interestingly, "Dolphins were seen swimming near the port of Cagliari, which is the capital of the Italian island of Sardinia."

Venice hasn't seen clear canal water in a very long time. Dolphins showing up too. Nature just hit the reset button on us pic.twitter.com/RzqOq8ftCj

- Gianluca De Santis (@ b8taFPS) March 17, 2020

The incident was inevitably spread throughout the media universe. People who care, then share on their respective social media while carrying messages related to the corona virus which is the point where the world provides an opportunity for the environment to breathe and improve.

Important Lessons

Not only Italy, basically this is happening in almost every country that is fighting the corona virus outbreak. Even began to feel the point where the environment began to improve. Therefore, it is natural for many people to comment on seeing this phenomenon, one of which is an environmental activist who is also a candidate for the Director of National Walhi, Anton P Widjaya.

Anton, who was contacted by VOI , March 20, revealed about COVID-19 from an environmental perspective and reflection. "COVID-19 attacking and becoming a deadly epidemic is a concrete form of losing the balance of nature."

In fact, Anton believes that COVID-19 is a reflection that can at least make people aware that nature has the power and ability to protect our lives as humans. However, because his condition has been damaged, people have to deal directly with all disasters and always become victims of them.

In the context of COVID-19, humans can then provide opportunities for the environment to breathe, restore its carrying capacity and carrying capacity, as happened in Italy. So that people are aware, COVID-19 is not just a natural cycle that takes many lives.

What's more, "COVID-19 is able to justify our point of view, that nature is not just an economic commodity, that the environment and the universe have social and cultural values, have the ability to reduce all forms of disasters, we must do it immediately," said Anton.

In closing, perhaps a sentence from the film Underwater (2020), starring Kristen Stewart, can make you realize that the environment can renew itself:

"Because we've taken too much from the sea. Now the ocean wants to take it back from us. We shouldn't be here."