“The Corona crisis is a 100-meter race and the climate crisis is a marathon. We have to run both at the same time” – Victor Galaz, Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Such satellite images showing the decreasing pollution levels are widespread over social media. It came as a ray of hope for many to see decreasing levels of air pollutants in Italy and China and soon after, our own country, once the lockdown started here.

The complete halting of various nations in order to tackle the COVID-19 crisis has given way to unexpected data related to air pollution.

Himalayas are also visible from Jalandhar, as the air quality improves.

Environmental resource economist Marshall Burke calculates that two months of pollution reduction in China has probably saved the lives of 4,000 children under five and 73,000 adults over 70 (which would otherwise have been affected by high levels of pollution).

Not just in terms of air quality has this multinational halt made an environmental impact. IANS states the Earth's crust is shaking less as people stay home. Data from a seismometer at the observatory show that measures to curb the spread of covid-19 in Brussels caused human-induced seismic noise to fall by about one-third. In Belgium, scientists report at least a 30% reduction in that amount of ambient human noise since lockdown began there.

The impact on biodiversity was even more remarkable.

The United Nations had called 2020 as a super year for nature and biodiversity, and it came true in strange ways. With the worldwide lockdown leading to delay in important international meetings on the environment and biodiversity, focus has shifted towards public awareness which might bring a positive impact overall.

To curb the spread of COVID-19, China took drastic measures to ban illegal markets and stop wildlife trade in February. What remains for us to see is whether the consumption would continue to decrease post the re-opening of the markets.

Now that humans have isolated themselves, we can see biodiversity venturing back into their lost territories. Naturalists are reporting wildlife sightings from their backyards, as peacocks,owls, hornbills, crickets, moths, frogs and squirrels have resurfaced in urban regions. Many videos of animals crossing urban streets are widespread on social media. Olive Ridley turtles are nesting undisturbed in large numbers on the beaches of Odisha. Similar sightings have been reported in Florida and Thailand. A puma was spotted in Santiago, the capital of Chile, deer explored subway stations in Japan, a nilgai was spotted in Noida, a sambar in Chandigarh, and a rhinoceros in Sonapur near Guwahati.

Organisations are also using this opportunity to collect data about the local biodiversity, encouraging people to upload their observations on eBird twice a day, and using this time to educate children about the local biodiversity. Such observations of flourishing flora and fauna have also been suggested to improve mental health during these tough times, due to their calming and relaxing nature.

On the downside, however, conservationists and wildlife researchers worry that an unfounded fear of wild creatures like bats can lead to growing hate among the people, in the age of social media misinformation. Two trees with large bat roosts, for instance, were felled in Mysuru recently, because local people were afraid of picking up viruses from them. In turn, this would only drive the bats to other habitats, possibly closer to the human territories.

As we encroach more and more into the natural homes of wild animals, and bring wildlife into urban areas, we increase the ways in which zoonotic diseases can transfer from animals to humans. "Another spillover -- more spillovers -- of viruses from wild animals into humans are inevitable as long as we keep doing what we’re doing ... multiplying and consuming and pushing against the rest of the world of nature," said Quammen, an American science, nature and travel writer.

This pandemic brought to a halt the decades long alteration humans have been making to the ecosystems. Over 1 million species are endangered, and 40% insects are under threat.

As much as 50% of animals that once shared the Earth with us, along with billions of other populations, are already gone.

Despite changes brought by the virus, The Great Barrier Reef underwent the most widespread bleaching ever, due to high temperatures in February, due to Global Warming.

Why don’t people address the climate crisis with the same seriousness as they address COVID-19?

The answer proposed by environmentalists? "Because they think COVID-19 will happen to them, whereas climate change will affect other people."

So does the COVID-19 crisis have a silver lining with respect to the environment? We are seeing changes now, but are these changes here to stay? 

Now that the oil and gas industry is on the verge of bankruptcy, this plunge in oil prices might slow the world’s transition to clean energy. Experts have also warned that if countries like China decide to subsidise their polluting industries to cushion the blow of COVID-19 on the economy, emission levels can dramatically soar.

Once the pandemic passes and the aviation industry bounces back to its routine, it is expected that airlines would try to compensate for the financial loss experienced during the outbreak by opting out of funding eco-friendly initiatives. “As long as there are no rules in place to ratchet global carbon emissions steadily downwards, year after year, in line with the science, then emissions will rebound to their upward trajectory as soon as the emergency period around COVID-19 abates.” John Gibbons, climate journalist and activist.

But there may still be hope.

The COVID-19 pandemic has elicited a global response unlike anything we've seen before. From government and business taking on new roles to respond to the crisis to the complete re-organisation of how we work, travel and socialize, we have witnessed transformational changes that didn't appear possible just weeks ago.

One response to the coronavirus outbreak that has appalled the climate scientists is the way many communities have taken big steps to protect each other from the health crisis. The speed and extent of the response has given some hope that rapid action could also be taken on climate change if the threat it poses was treated as urgently. For example, imposing strict regulations to reduce emissions is possible if the governments decide to treat the climate crisis as a serious threat to humanity like COVID-19 is.

There may be another way that the behavioural changes taking place around the world could carry over beyond the current coronavirus pandemic.

“We know from social science research that interventions are more effective if they take place during moments of change,” says Nicholas.

A 2018 study led by Corinne Moser at Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland found that when people were unable to drive and were given free e-bike access instead, they drove much less when they eventually got their car back. While a study in 2001 led by Satoshi

Fujii at Kyoto University in Japan found that when a motorway closed, forcing drivers to use public transit, the same thing happened – when the road reopened, people who had formerly been committed drivers travelled by public transport more frequently.

On a more domestic scale, now that lifestyles of billions have been put through extreme change, maybe some of the change will remain post-pandemic. The virus is also promoting us to change our habits-- working from home, Video conferencing, cutting down the working hours to reduce traffic. Localised production is an efficient way to reduce the amount of risk involved: with factors like climate change, natural disasters or even a global pandemic.There may be a reduction in automobile usage as well. Venetians are now beginning to talk of possibly reducing motorised boat traffic so that some of this returning biodiversity can be preserved.

In such times of crisis, we truly understand how closely the greenhouse gas emissions and economic growth are related. Everytime we observe a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, it is always during a recession period. Hence a managed contraction of the economy in order to save the environment becomes quintessential, to protect those who live precarious lives- completely dependent on the fossil fuel economies. If the environmental crisis is treated just as seriously as we treat this pandemic crisis, we should be able to have similar levels of international coordination, as well as individual participation.

This is the perfect time to talk about planned economic stabilisation, taking the environmental and future pandemic crisis into consideration. The perfect time to take action is now.