THE SILVER LINING OF A GLOBAL PANDEMIC
Photo by Kait Spielmaker
EARTH BEGINS TO HEAL ITSELF BY KAIT SPIELMAKER
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s many of us entered the third week of March this year, we had no idea that our world would be placed on pause as if it were a song on our spring playlist. This uncertainty, paired with anxiety from a somewhat tumultuous news cycle, has had many feeling as if our world has been flipped upside down. Each day, I would wake up feeling uneasy and illprepared for what is coming next, but one day felt different. In the wake of my seemingly current state of never-ending anxiety, I felt a wave of calm as social media graced me with something good. Amid the chaos, while the world around us seems to be crashing and burning, we should really stop and smell the flowers for a minute. The flowers in this case are seeing the lungs of the Earth, full and grateful that humanity has paused. If you haven’t been following the news cycle or you have been avoiding social media, you may have missed the residents of Venice posting photos of the canals or the satellite imaging showing the greenhouse gas emissions over China. With many countries placing mandates on residents to help stop
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greenliving | April 2020
the spread of Coronavirus even further, our planet is showing signs of restoration in the absence of human activity.
VENICE, ITALY In Venice, the canals are the lifeline of the city. They are home to many boats and gondolas, as cars are restricted. Venice has been the leading example of unsustainable overtourism in recent years, contributing further to pollution. Venice officials have been working to preserve the city’s culture and charm while mitigating pollution in the city by limiting the number of tourists, including those from cruise ships, that are allowed there at one time. Venice is a volatile and delicate place with a dense tourist population. In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, Italy was one of the first major countries to go on lockdown. While we have heard a lot of sad news regarding the people of Italy, we have also recently been seeing residents on their balconies, joining together in song; and now photos are surfacing of the clear canals flowing through the neighborhoods in Venice.
greenlivingaz.com
