Pause

Humanity retreats indoors and the non-human natural world rumbles out liberated.

International Journal of Environmental Science & Technology

You could see it from space: what the absence of human commerce looked like after only a few months. Smog gone; haze dispersed. You could see it all around you. Less traffic, less crowding. Bicyclists owning highways that flank our cities; wildlife reclaiming open spaces. Rivers and lakes and shorelines unclogged of trash. Even our hometown has reverted to its lazy, pre-boom state. Walking downtown like time-travelling back a decade. Gentrification reversed. It’s clear: nature benefits from our absence. Mother Earth gets an afternoon rest, free to nap in the sun or putter around her garden. We all felt it, as we all feel the old bustle returning.  Things snap back to where they were.  Worse, we are rushing back. We’ve learned nothing.