So many people recently have been musing on the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on climate change and nature. It is easy to think that the time we are facing is dire but
to see it from nature’s point of view and believe it is a good thing. Surely
nature is getting time to recover? However, It can be a slippery slope this
thought process. First of all, to believe that climate change can be undone by
a period of stopping air traffic and driving less is dangerous. Planting trees
is important, recycling is important but it isn’t going to save the world solely,
just as limiting human movement isn’t going to completely stop events occurring
but slow them down. We need systemic changes in order for a full term effect to
take place.

 So this short period
(because although it feels long now, it will be a short period in human
history) is a blip, a link in a chain of events that is proving that nature can bounce back if human beings give it
a chance- wouldn’t it be amazing if human beings could give this chance not in
such forced and stressful circumstances as now but because they have an
epiphany that this is the right thing to do. As I have argued before, we are
nature, it isn’t separate from us humans, yet our systems and governments act
as if it is. New Buildings are not being made as environmentally friendly as
they can be because of cost cutting. HS2 in the UK is a rail network, which
after years of petitions and demonstrations and rocketing costs which will
total over £106 billion and will destroy 108 ancient woodlands and habitats,
was horrifically given the full go ahead in 2019 but which even in lockdown, is
still being carried out and worked on, with nesting sites and natural spaces
being disturbed even when they were agreed not to be. This is all going to come
back and bite us humans so we need to act now to make a change for the future
and ensure we have a future with us in it and as part of it.

This horrible situation we all find ourselves in globally,
this pandemic which has caused so much despair, loneliness and heartache,
hopefully will not be in vain. Hopefully this snapshot of how humans truly
impact on the world will encourage systemic change. How we humans can be a
force for good and not just a force.

At the moment hope is something we all seem to be holding
onto.

If you can, please keep signing petitions, keep showing
support of nature charities and organisations fighting for natural causes. These
things don’t disappear – they keep going and will pick up pace even more after
this is all over. What are we all turning to in this time of insecurity and
uncertainty? Nature. Yet what is the thing suffering most at the hands of human
beings?…