These pictures were taken of cities before and after the covid lockdowns. All around the world, cities seemed to emerge from darkness as smog filled skies became crystal clear after a few weeks of covid lockdowns. In addition to giving us all hope, these images provide very important insights into the climate problem both in terms of cause and solution.

The people are still living in all of these cities. They just collectively changed their habits because of the lockdowns. This synchronous shift in behavior decreased the amount of pollution and resulted in a dramatic transformation of the environment. No one wants to return to lockdowns. However, we may not need to in order to achieve positive environmental changes. The change in the environments did not result from completely eliminating pollution. They occurred as a result of a reduction in the production of pollution. These images and the crystal clear skylines of many smaller cities indicates that there is a tipping point above which pollution rates result in smog. This also means that the process works in reverse. If pollution rates are reduced below the tipping point, the environment will completely clear the air.

There are several simple things
that we can all do to help combat climate change: