More flowers are blooming than usual. A popular Bengali newspaper carried a report to this effect. It is up to the scientists to validate this claim, but the sentiment is unmistakable. With industry, commerce and transport having practically halted, the air is cleaner - and this is making us feel blessed.

The story of cleaner air and cleaner sky is doing the rounds across the globe with similar passion and frequency. But some voices are sceptical and say that we should enjoy it as long as it lasts. And they cannot be faulted either as they have a reason to justify their alarmist position.

Social media is awash in viral videos (some real, some fake) of animals seemingly enjoying the outdoors as humans remain indoors. There is a video of a herd of elephants walking majestically along a road somewhere in Coorg. Then there is a pangolin, known as a shy animal, walking across a deserted thoroughfare that is usually choked with traffic. The cake goes to a clip showing how dolphins and swans are back in the cleaner waters of Venice. (These were fakes: the swans were shot in Burano near Venice, where they are regulars. Similarly, the dolphins were regulars in Sardinia.) But such “happy” videos reflect the general sentiment about the pollution that engulfs us.

However, as Jonathan Watts writes in The Guardian dated 9 April, there has been a general fall in the carbon and nitrogen dioxide emission by about 18 per cent between early February and mid-March. And the advocates of alternative energy are arguing that we should learn from this and embrace greater exploitation of clean energy sources.

But will the policy makers agree? The current global evidence, especially, the US policy swings, is a negative pointer. The US Environmental Protection Agency has stopped enforcing environment protection norms. The administration has also rolled back fuel economy standards for motor cars.

It is being argued that the world may not learn from the lessons of the lockdown days. From Africa there is a graver message coming loud and clear. With the tourism industry down in the dumps because of the lockdown, the parks are running low on funds. Some parks may not be able to afford the rangers entrusted with the job of fending off the poachers. This is dangerous news. Similar stories are being heard from the Amazon.

Given the spread of things as is being witnessed across the Earth’s environment, will we learn a lesson and mend our ways? Or, as environmentalists have been warning us for quite some time now and if we don’t there might be other pandemic to face, will we decide to submit to the revenge of Nature?