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T. S. Shwetha and A. Kaur
arrogant assumption that as the “superior species”, we have the right over anything
and everything we touch. This self-acclaimed superior status and the intelligence
that caused it does not seem to have been used for the collective benefit; rather, it
has been utilised for the exploitation of all plausible resources on Earth for their
own benefit. What’s worse is that humans tend to share the belief that sustainability
can be achieved through exploitation of nature by further controlling it in a “better”
manner. Human kind’s reluctance to take meaningful action has severely delayed
any progress towards the betterment of the environment and it is imperative that it be
brought to attention now. Although such a bleak view might seem to be true, and to a
great extent it actually is, there is hope that humans are now rising up to the occasion
and are recognising the harm that their behaviours from centuries of exploitation
have done to the environment. And the current pandemic may have some hand at
bringing about this change.
According to the World Health Organization’s report, almost 30% of the nations
had no ways of being prepared and dealing with the COVID-19 spread. In the absence
of any vaccine, precautionary measures like frequent washing of hands and other
exposed areas, wearing a mask, practising social distancing and avoidance of crowded
spaces are being excessively promoted. In order to overcome the paucity in social
interactions, video conferencing, online learning, work from home are a few measures
that have been propagated among the public to engage in [76].
As a result of large-scale industrial shut down some direct effects on the environment have been observed, such as reduced air, noise and water pollution. Furthermore,
due to the pandemic there has been significant reduction of human movements across
the globe which revealed critical aspects of our impact on the environment. Insights
from the changes during this time would be able to better assist us on how to further
share the same space with other species in a more harmonising manner. Rutz et al.
[56, p. 1] elaborated on this and introduced a term for the “pause” the entire globe
experienced:
“We noticed that people started referring to the lockdown period as the ‘Great
Pause’, but felt that a more precise term would be helpful. We propose ‘anthropause’
to refer specifically to a considerable global slowing of modern human activities,
notably travel.”
The lockdown has had a huge impact on wildlife, with animals that had never
been sighted before walking freely around in the vicinity. Generally, it seemed like
there are more animals than before. Perhaps this change would pave the way for a
greater change that would be a result of direct human intervention towards better
future. However, for that to occur, we must ensure that we understand the linkages
between human and animal behaviour, and how our destructive behaviour impacts
the other animals that share the same space as us. Such an extremely vital knowledge,
although known, has been very conveniently ignored this far.
Furthermore, an indirect effect of people being isolated and house-bound has
resulted in them engaging more with the environment than before. As the speedy
rush of the mundane life has come to a slow halt, people are finding themselves
noticing more birds in the sky, feeling the freshness of the air while doing yoga in
their backyard and figuring out new trails on their morning runs—thus experiencing
T. S. Shwetha and A. Kaur
arrogant assumption that as the “superior species”, we have the right over anything
and everything we touch. This self-acclaimed superior status and the intelligence
that caused it does not seem to have been used for the collective benefit; rather, it
has been utilised for the exploitation of all plausible resources on Earth for their
own benefit. What’s worse is that humans tend to share the belief that sustainability
can be achieved through exploitation of nature by further controlling it in a “better”
manner. Human kind’s reluctance to take meaningful action has severely delayed
any progress towards the betterment of the environment and it is imperative that it be
brought to attention now. Although such a bleak view might seem to be true, and to a
great extent it actually is, there is hope that humans are now rising up to the occasion
and are recognising the harm that their behaviours from centuries of exploitation
have done to the environment. And the current pandemic may have some hand at
bringing about this change.
According to the World Health Organization’s report, almost 30% of the nations
had no ways of being prepared and dealing with the COVID-19 spread. In the absence
of any vaccine, precautionary measures like frequent washing of hands and other
exposed areas, wearing a mask, practising social distancing and avoidance of crowded
spaces are being excessively promoted. In order to overcome the paucity in social
interactions, video conferencing, online learning, work from home are a few measures
that have been propagated among the public to engage in [76].
As a result of large-scale industrial shut down some direct effects on the environment have been observed, such as reduced air, noise and water pollution. Furthermore,
due to the pandemic there has been significant reduction of human movements across
the globe which revealed critical aspects of our impact on the environment. Insights
from the changes during this time would be able to better assist us on how to further
share the same space with other species in a more harmonising manner. Rutz et al.
[56, p. 1] elaborated on this and introduced a term for the “pause” the entire globe
experienced:
“We noticed that people started referring to the lockdown period as the ‘Great
Pause’, but felt that a more precise term would be helpful. We propose ‘anthropause’
to refer specifically to a considerable global slowing of modern human activities,
notably travel.”
The lockdown has had a huge impact on wildlife, with animals that had never
been sighted before walking freely around in the vicinity. Generally, it seemed like
there are more animals than before. Perhaps this change would pave the way for a
greater change that would be a result of direct human intervention towards better
future. However, for that to occur, we must ensure that we understand the linkages
between human and animal behaviour, and how our destructive behaviour impacts
the other animals that share the same space as us. Such an extremely vital knowledge,
although known, has been very conveniently ignored this far.
Furthermore, an indirect effect of people being isolated and house-bound has
resulted in them engaging more with the environment than before. As the speedy
rush of the mundane life has come to a slow halt, people are finding themselves
noticing more birds in the sky, feeling the freshness of the air while doing yoga in
their backyard and figuring out new trails on their morning runs—thus experiencing