Is nature healing itself during The Great Lockdown? Not quite

The Covid-19 pandemic will leave an open wound on humankind which may take some time to heal. As well as the hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide, global economies are set to fall into the biggest crisis since The Great Depression. However, the vast reduction in human activity over the last two months has also thrown up some fascinating effects on our environment, which could serve as lessons for the post-Covid-19 world. The most surprising change came in the Indian state of Punjab, where the Himalayan mountain range became visible for the first time in 30 years thanks to a 33-percent reduction in pollution since India began its lockdown on March 22. News reports gushed that nature was “healing itself” as factories closed and people stopped using cars.

In Brazil, the notion of Mother Nature having a drastic recovery overnight was lampooned on social media, with memes claiming that dolphins had been spotted in São Paulo’s putrid and largely dead Tietê River.

However, while there have been few visual impacts of reduced human activity in Brazil — besides some striking sunsets —...