There Is Still Time

"There is still time to preserve and restore them before the last echo of the last reef fades into memory. In most cases, instead of adding stimuli that we have removed, we can simply remove those that we added-- a luxury that doesn't apply to most pollutants. Radioactive waste can take millennia to degrade. Persistent chemicals like the pesticide DDT can thread their way through the bodies of animals long after they are banned. Plastics will continue to despoil the oceans for centuries even if all plastic production halts tomorrow. But light pollution ceases as soon as lights are turned off. Noise pollution abates once engines and propellers wind down. Sensory pollution is an ecological gimme-- a rare example of a planetary problem that can be immediately and effectively addressed. And in the spring of 2020, the world did unknowingly address it."

From An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, Ed Yong