Since the coronavirus made its way through major countries, the entire world slowly went into hiding as people put a pause on their lives. As sad as it is to see major, bustling cities such as New York City and Los Angeles turn into ghost towns, putting the world on lockdown has been positively impacting our environment.

Our earth is getting warmer by the day, compared to the late 1800s our land and oceans are hotter than it ever was before. Due to the combustion of fossil fuels, hydrocarbons warm up our planets through the greenhouse effect. Because of global warming, we are witnessing the melting of our ice caps, the rising of temperatures as the southwest and central plains of the U.S. might experience horrible droughts, extreme weather, and ocean disruption. It was time that people started to take this issue into their hands, but, coronavirus had a way of taking care of it for us.

Scientists observed a drop in air pollution levels as the difference in air quality becomes noticeable. In China and Italy, both areas with heavy industry and aviation presence have noticed dips in NO2 as there was a major stop in "industrial activity and vehicular traffic." In cities such as Venice, someone on Facebook shared a picture of the canals and its clear waters, which is apparently very unusual. But, the clearness of the water doesn't equate to an increase in the quality of water, it could be due to the lack of boat traffic and lack of tourists and workers. Regardless, it's nice to see positive changes within our environment during times of despair and death.

COVID-19 has done a number on the lives of many across the world, people are forced to stay at home, jobless and scared for their future as the number of people dying increases every day. But, this sudden change in people's daily lives might have a positive implication on mother nature. It was time that we took our future in our own hands and keep our planet habitable, it was time that we let mother nature take a break.