Time to re-think

People say that bad things happen for a reason. Well, if we stop and think for a bit, this Corona virus is really a bad thing happening worldwide and enormous amount of people are suffering, their families are hurting and their communities are struggling. Sure, this will pass but we have to re-think our habits and take this break to change our attitudes towards the place we call Home. I have seen pictures from some places, showing that our old habits still continue to persist and honestly this really has to stop, has to have an END. There is a huge number of disposable gloves, masks, tissues and bottles still thrown away carelessly. Please, I know these times are hard for everyone but let’s not forget that we still need a place to live and if we do not take care, all this man-made rubbish will find their way to the rivers and finally the ocean.

Photos from Twitter

But not all is bad, it has been reported that the Himalayas, can now be seen from kilometers away, which have been hiding behind a curtain of pollution for many years. Villagers from Punjabi, India can see the snow peaked mountains 200 kilometres away.

 Photo in journal Publico

It was recorded, that ambient noise from ships and other maritime traffic has dropped and the noisy waters calmed down, which made the Right whales (Eubalaena) experience a drop in their stress-level hormones. Michelle Fournet, a marine ecologist at Cornell who studies acoustic environments, thinks now that the North Pacific humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), who have begun to move north this month will be soon swimming with newborn calves in southeast Alaska. She says: “This will be the quietest entry that Humpback whales have had in southeastern Alaska in decades.”

Photo from Wikipedia

There has been a lot of changes in our oceans in the past decade. An example of that, is the ozone hole above Antarctic had its lowest peak recorded last year, which means the gap is closing and that the jet current is decreasing and enabling the currents of cold air to return to its normal latitudes. 

Photo by Nasa

So to sum it up, this is the time to re-think, to grab this break and make the changes that we are wanting to see happen, change our minds with regards to the place around us and let´s get united to fight for a better world for our children to live in.

By Marlene Cabral