Is Coronavirus Giving Earth a Long Overdue Breath?

By Michelle Shaw

It’s Earth Day, and we are in the midst of a global pandemic. Nothing will make you contemplate the Earth’s health as quickly as watching her spring back to life as 180,000 of your global citizens have lost their battle to simply breathe and fall victim to the Coronavirus pandemic. It’s almost as if all of these beautiful souls are relinquishing their last breaths so that Mother Earth can refill her lungs. We would be fools not to notice the intertwining relationship of life and death.

My family and I moved to Tennessee from Arizona in October and November of last year. We moved in order to be closer to my mother, as she battled for her own life, in the grips of a devastating disease. By the time we made our final trip to move our last belongings, the trees of Tennessee had dropped their leaves and the first snow came just eight days later. It was going to be quite an adjustment for a lady who spent 39 years in a state that averages 296 days of sunshine annually. Frankly, as far as I was concerned, Spring could not come soon enough.

In March, my anticipation was over as the magic of new life and an array of vibrant blooms took hold of our backyard. With so much life to appreciate, I still could not shake the pang of sorrow in my heart for those who would not live to see the splendor of Spring 2020.

On March 13th, “President” Trump declared a national emergency due to the Coronavirus. The deadly virus had already reached our small town of Franklin, Tennessee eight days before this grossly delayed declaration. As I watched in horror from my laptop the complete decimation of the Italian medical system unfold, I was also watching the world outside my living room window spring to life. I often go outside to clear my head, and these days I have found being in nature to be the nourishing soul food that keeps me sane.

Our boys had their last day of school March 5th, due to the COVID-19 case in our community. I have been incredibly impressed with the way Williamson County acted so quickly to protect our children. As parents we are always looking for teachable moments, and so we set out to teach our boys a valuable lesson about life, even amid the nonstop news feed about death. We took to the hiking trails next to our house. We wanted the boys to see that the trail we had hiked last month would look vastly different as the unstoppable will to live sprang from the leaf covered terra.

This March 19th walk was one of reflection. It was the first time we ever passed anyone on a hiking trail and both parties took the widest possible routes away from one another, as we were forced to acknowledge that these were different, less safe times. As we walked, I shared uplifting news that had just been reported from Venice; the fish, swans, seabirds, and dolphins were returning to the cleaner waters of the canals. The daily pounding of tourists and boats had ceased their destructive and incessant deposits of pollution only twelve days earlier and already wildlife was celebrating in Italy.

Upon sharing this news with the boys, our youngest looked at me and said, “I hope people will realize how beautiful it could be if we take care of the earth.” So do I, son. So do I.

This month many stories are surfacing about the healing that was taking place on the planet, and as I walk in nature and think about these encouraging tales, I stop to notice the houses of the woodland creatures and think about how our slowing down has made their lives a bit more beautiful and safe.

The animals in Venice are not the only ones to grace the communities that normally scare them away with our incessant hustle. Wild boars are descending from the mountains into the city of Barcelona, Spain. Capibara have been seen walking through neighborhoods in Nordelta, Argentina.  Mountain goats are roaming the streets of Llandudno, Wales. Herd of deer are grazing in front of multifamily housing complexes in London, England.  Buffalo can be seen strolling down empty highways in New Delhi, India. Jackals are out in parks of Tel Aviv, Israel, blessing the silence of a quarantine with their majestic howls. Wild boars snack on gardens amongst residential buildings in Ajaccio, Corsica. Racoons are making mischief in Central Park in New York. A sea lion is seen sitting on the sidewalk of Mar del Plata harbor in Buenos, Argentina. Goats and sheep are grazing alongside a nearly empty airport highway in Istanbul, Turkey. Deer are crossing the city streets in Nara, Japan. Grey langurs are running and playing on deserted roads in Ahmedabad, India. Peahens are parading down the roads of New Delhi, India. A lone cow is spotted walking down the streets of Bhaktapur, Nepal. Horses are grazing outside of an indoor sports stadium in Srinagar in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.  And baby sea turtles are able to hatch on the empty beaches of Brazil, in the peaceful solitude that is life without human interference. As we mourn our dead, the animals are coming to life.

We hear of the anguishing days of those who are passing from the deadly COVID-19 disease.  They cannot catch their breath, their lungs losing the capacity to do what we all take for granted every day: the simple act of a parasympathetic reflex called breathing. And at the same time, as the pollution in the air subsides, I cannot help but think that the trees are breathing a bit easier.

On March 16th Governor Gavin Newsom of California ordered residents to stay home. Just twenty-two days later, Los Angelos reported some of the cleanest air of any major city. According to EPA data, LA had the longest stretch of “good” air quality since 1995. Residents of India are amazed at the fact that they ?can see the Himalayas for the first time in 30 years,? from the region of Jalandhar in Punjab, even though this range is more than 120 miles away.

In just one month’s time, the massive cloud of pollution that had become a permanent resident in the skies over China is nearly undetectable, as seen on NASA satellite. Astoundingly, one week ago NASA reported a 30% reduction in air pollution as global citizens respect the importance of the stay-at-home order. This is undeniable, factual, incredibly promising scientific information that we must pay attention to if we are to continue to thrive as a race on planet Earth. If we have learned nothing else over these past few weeks, we had better come to the stark realization that the earth does not need us, and the animals will be happy to be the stewards of this miraculous planet if we cannot be trusted to make the necessary changes.

So, as we all adjust to new normal, I hope we are assimilating the lessons we have been given. I look forward to the day I can walk on the same side of the street as our parents when our family takes a walk together, but I will gladly make that adjustment to keep them safe. Many others have altered their lives to be a conscious member of society, as they work to keep their loved ones and neighbors safe. But what are we willing to do to keep our planet safe? I guess that is a question we will all need to ask ourselves as we take a good, long, hard, self-reflective, contemplative, soul-searching look at the person in the mirror.

Yesterday my family planted 100 maple saplings. Today our lawn man is coming to mow the yard, and we felt compelled to try and save as many of the saplings as we could from the blades that will be arriving to obliterate their hopes of reaching their potential of a hundred feet of height. This morning we woke up to find that our resident chipmunk couple had feasted on a breakfast of baby trees ? little bastards! And while I was never under any delusion that all 100 of those saplings would make it be a century old, I am still hopeful that some of these young ones will be around to help us breathe easier as we face a time of global and environmental uncertainty. Our aspirations of seeing these saplings become full grown trees and the hope that our boys will one day tell their children of the time they saved the trees from the blades of the lawn mower, reminds me of the incredible parable written by Loren Eiseley in 1969.

One day, an old man was walking along a beach that was littered with thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore by the high tide. As he walked, he came upon a young boy who was eagerly throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one by one.