covid 19 nature healing
We have been living in a bubble, a bubble of false comfort and denial. In the rich nations, we have begun to believe we have transcended the material world. The wealth we’ve accumulated – often at the expense of others – has shielded us from reality. Living behind screens, passing between capsules – our houses, cars, offices and shopping malls – we persuaded ourselves that contingency had retreated, that we had reached the point all civilisations seek: insulation from natural hazards.
Now the membrane has ruptured, and we find ourselves naked and outraged, as the biology we appeared to have banished storms through our lives. The temptation, when this pandemic has passed, will be to find another bubble. We cannot afford to succumb to it. From now on, we should expose our minds to the painful realities we have denied for too long.
We have been living in a bubble, a bubble of false comfort and denial. In the rich nations, we have begun to believe we have transcended the material world. The wealth we’ve accumulated – often at the expense of others – has shielded us from reality. Living behind screens, passing between capsules – our houses, cars, offices and shopping malls – we persuaded ourselves that contingency had retreated, that we had reached the point all civilisations seek: insulation from natural hazards.
Now the membrane has ruptured, and we find ourselves naked and outraged, as the biology we appeared to have banished storms through our lives. The temptation, when this pandemic has passed, will be to find another bubble. We cannot afford to succumb to it. From now on, we should expose our minds to the painful realities we have denied for too long.
Many countries will not be able to keep up with the Paris agreement pledges to reduce carbon emissions. Even then, for now the mother earth is healing its wounds, reducing its scars, it is breathing.
We have been awestruck, dumbfounded and terrified by the way a "simple" virus has been attacking the human race, which first broke out in Wuhan, a city in Hubei province of China, in December 2019.
I say "simple" because we never thought we would be needing protection from a virus in such a massive scale. We were worried about things much bigger, like the nuclear weapons and stock market falls, but never in our wildest dream did we think a virus could do much massive harm to humanity.
It has been reported that, most of the cities that were attacked first by coronavirus, were located near the equatorial line. Now, it has spread elsewhere in the globe.
Iran reported its first case of novel coronavirus on February19. Three days later, Italy reported its first case on February 22. At that time, South Korea was having its largest spike.
In the last four months, the virus has spread to more than 180 countries and territories , and have claimed over 70,000 lives.
Spain reported more than 13,000 deaths, while New York has been declared as having highest number of coronavirus infection in the United States. As of April 7, USA recorded 10, 943 deaths from coronavirus, of which 4,758 took place in New York.
Many theories, remedies and cures have circulated on social media platforms since the coronavirus outbreak. Some even went as far as inventing alternative treatment for the pandemic.
People around the world created platforms for many religious 'duas' in different parts of the world. I am all for it and have participated in some of these prayer ceremonies.
What still baffles me, is that for many years environmentalists have been warning the people that they (humans) are overdoing everything: misuse of the natural water, trees, air pollution, all have affected our mother earth, which is being ruined more and more every year.
I could give different data, but I think everyone is aware of all those. When Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg gave her first speech on saving the environment, different quarters came up with conspiracy theories to prove that she was set up by some corporations.
Nobody took notice that the mother nature was screaming on top of her lungs telling us that she was suffocating, and needed to heal. Humans like Greta were given voices on behalf of her.
It's not only Greta, many more like her in different parts of the world have been trying point at things we were doing weren't right, and if we wanted to survive, our ways must be changed.
A couple of weeks ago, Greta reiterated the need for saving the Earth. She said that she may have been affected by coronavirus mildly, but since Sweden only tests the severe cases, she has not been tested.
She called upon all to save the planet and said "We must fight the climate crisis and the pandemic simultaneously."
We failed to slow down the carbon emission even after the iceberg of Antarctica melted at an alarming fast pace, resulting in the sea levels to rise. In addition, the ice in the Arctic region has also been melting at a very alarming rate since 2016.
But the world leaders did not do much.
Most of the wildfires were caused by human errors. In 2019, Australia saw the worst bushfire recorded in decades, which destroyed over 12 million hectares of lands. Canada and USA have had bushfires often too.
The picture in our neck of the woods is somewhat grimmer. In Bangladesh, we failed to save our rivers and canals, anyone who has ever tried to go on a river cruise on Buriganga knows it.
The pitch-dark water gives out a stench, which is enough to suffocate anyone nearby. Yet, we endure the smell and hold our breaths till we go to a part where the water becomes clearer.
Most of us forget about the pitch-black water once we have returned from a joyous trip and of course posted some nice photos on the social media.
However, there are still some rivers like Surma in Sunamganj, and the haors, that are fresh and clean, but with the growing number of visitors in these places and the surge of garbage dumping, it will soon become polluted.
In addition, our sandy sea beaches are now filled with plastic bags and other waste materials.
Pieces of broken plastic bottles wash away to the shore come floating with the waves. Volunteers and cleaners are picking bags, trash cans and other waste dumped on the beaches.
What I am saying is that it is not enough unless each and every one of us make a conscious choice of not throwing trash on the beach and the water.
In 2004, I visited an adivasi village of the JenuKurba tribe in Karnataka of India. It amazed me to see how the tribal people share the resource of the earth with other living beings.
I say "simple" because we never thought we would be needing protection from a virus in such a massive scale. We were worried about things much bigger, like the nuclear weapons and stock market falls, but never in our wildest dream did we think a virus could do much massive harm to humanity.
It has been reported that, most of the cities that were attacked first by coronavirus, were located near the equatorial line. Now, it has spread elsewhere in the globe.
Iran reported its first case of novel coronavirus on February19. Three days later, Italy reported its first case on February 22. At that time, South Korea was having its largest spike.
In the last four months, the virus has spread to more than 180 countries and territories , and have claimed over 70,000 lives.
Spain reported more than 13,000 deaths, while New York has been declared as having highest number of coronavirus infection in the United States. As of April 7, USA recorded 10, 943 deaths from coronavirus, of which 4,758 took place in New York.
Many theories, remedies and cures have circulated on social media platforms since the coronavirus outbreak. Some even went as far as inventing alternative treatment for the pandemic.
People around the world created platforms for many religious 'duas' in different parts of the world. I am all for it and have participated in some of these prayer ceremonies.
What still baffles me, is that for many years environmentalists have been warning the people that they (humans) are overdoing everything: misuse of the natural water, trees, air pollution, all have affected our mother earth, which is being ruined more and more every year.
I could give different data, but I think everyone is aware of all those. When Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg gave her first speech on saving the environment, different quarters came up with conspiracy theories to prove that she was set up by some corporations.
Nobody took notice that the mother nature was screaming on top of her lungs telling us that she was suffocating, and needed to heal. Humans like Greta were given voices on behalf of her.
It's not only Greta, many more like her in different parts of the world have been trying point at things we were doing weren't right, and if we wanted to survive, our ways must be changed.
A couple of weeks ago, Greta reiterated the need for saving the Earth. She said that she may have been affected by coronavirus mildly, but since Sweden only tests the severe cases, she has not been tested.
She called upon all to save the planet and said "We must fight the climate crisis and the pandemic simultaneously."
We failed to slow down the carbon emission even after the iceberg of Antarctica melted at an alarming fast pace, resulting in the sea levels to rise. In addition, the ice in the Arctic region has also been melting at a very alarming rate since 2016.
But the world leaders did not do much.
Most of the wildfires were caused by human errors. In 2019, Australia saw the worst bushfire recorded in decades, which destroyed over 12 million hectares of lands. Canada and USA have had bushfires often too.
The picture in our neck of the woods is somewhat grimmer. In Bangladesh, we failed to save our rivers and canals, anyone who has ever tried to go on a river cruise on Buriganga knows it.
The pitch-dark water gives out a stench, which is enough to suffocate anyone nearby. Yet, we endure the smell and hold our breaths till we go to a part where the water becomes clearer.
Most of us forget about the pitch-black water once we have returned from a joyous trip and of course posted some nice photos on the social media.
However, there are still some rivers like Surma in Sunamganj, and the haors, that are fresh and clean, but with the growing number of visitors in these places and the surge of garbage dumping, it will soon become polluted.
In addition, our sandy sea beaches are now filled with plastic bags and other waste materials.
Pieces of broken plastic bottles wash away to the shore come floating with the waves. Volunteers and cleaners are picking bags, trash cans and other waste dumped on the beaches.
What I am saying is that it is not enough unless each and every one of us make a conscious choice of not throwing trash on the beach and the water.
In 2004, I visited an adivasi village of the JenuKurba tribe in Karnataka of India. It amazed me to see how the tribal people share the resource of the earth with other living beings.
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