
'Nature is taking back Venice': wildlife returns to tourist-free city - pseudolus
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/20/nature-is-taking-back-venice-wildlife-returns-to-tourist-free-city
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brenden2
In Manhattan I've noticed a huge drop in the number of tourists in the past
few days, but what's more interesting to me is the total number of people out
and about in central park (and other parks) hasn't dropped much. It seems like
most of the tourists you usually see were just replaced by locals. I suppose
now that everyone is "working from home", they've got time to take walks in
the park and enjoy the nice weather. I've also noticed fewer taxis/cars in
general on the roads, which is quite nice.

This, of course, is strictly anecdotal observation, so take it with a grain of
salt.

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toyg
The first day of lockdown in Bologna, half the city ended up sunbathing in the
local park. The city council was then forced to close parks and gardens.

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ch4s3
If people are keeping their distance, it shouldn't be a problem.

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toyg
Their city parks are just not big enough to accommodate all those people at a
safe distance. And of course couples and groups will never actually stay at a
distance. Hence the order.

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ch4s3
Couldn't cities just limit the number of people in the park, and presumably
couples live together or are in contact anyway?

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toyg
Do you really want to deploy even more already-at-risk police forces, just to
count people in a park...? Let’s be real here - people are now forbidden from
walking in the city except to get food, let alone stroll in the park.

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ch4s3
This is silly. I’m just suggesting that people can be informed about the
risks, and told to keep their distance. Any enforcement can be pretty light
handed. Testing is the key regardless and focusing our efforts there could
alleviate many downstream problems.

~~~
toyg
_> Any enforcement can be pretty light handed._

From this statement I deduce you're not Italian. "Light handed enforcement"
over there does not exist - people will not respect any rule unless they are
somewhat certain that they'll be caught and punished for breaking it. Half-
measures just don't work, they will be gamed out of existence in a few hours.

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toyg
There is an alternative timeline where tourism in Venice is prohibited or
strictly restricted to a handful of people per day, and the city is
fundamentally dead but used as a social livingroom for moneyed global elites.
It would be utterly sad but probably very beautiful.

This crisis might help us rearrange our priorities a bit.

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whatshisface
Venice is "dead" right now because the people who really live there can't
compete with tourists for space. If you banned tourism then normal people
would fill back in.

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arwineap
Are there places in the world that ban tourism?

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undersuit
A Japanese Shrine banned foreigners. [https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-
asia/article/3046010/jap...](https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-
asia/article/3046010/japans-watatsumi-shrine-bans-foreigners-after-vandalism-
and)

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jfengel
According to National Geographic, this story is false[1]. There were always
swans in Burano, and the dolphins supposedly in Venice were in fact filmed
elsewhere.

[1]
[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/03/coronavir...](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/03/coronavirus-
pandemic-fake-animal-viral-social-media-posts/)

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spodek
Having reduced my pollution by about 90% over the past 5 years according to
online calculators and discovered the joy, community, and connection that
comes with acting on my environmental values, I hope people experience
simplicity and non-polluting behavior enough to continue it for the rest of
their lives and create long-term systemic change.

I used to love flying and didn't think twice about packaging, ordering online,
or buying food out of season. I prefer this way more than I can describe,
though I did my best in my TEDx talks [http://joshuaspodek.com/my-second-tedx-
talk-what-everyone-ge...](http://joshuaspodek.com/my-second-tedx-talk-what-
everyone-gets-wrong-about-the-environment-and-how-to-get-it-right-went-live),
and the old ways evoke disgust the way a polluted canal would look after
seeing how clean they become if given a couple weeks.

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pontifier
This is actually the most hopeful thing I've read in a while. It makes me
think that we're going to see a "Second Renaissance".

With the free time people have to think, and some deep introspection about
their true worth as a wage slave, we'll see things change drastically after
this is over.

This is possibly the best thing that could have happened to humanity.

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X6S1x6Okd1st
How about you wait to see what the full effect is before saying that COVID-19
is possibly the best thing that could have happened to humanity

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_Microft
This is how I remember Venice ... from Tomb Raider 2 ;)

There are a lot more people out in nature at the moment. If this will lead to
lasting changes? The lockdowns may be long enough to turn new behaviours into
new habits.

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X6S1x6Okd1st
I'd guess that habits are easily disrupted by major life changes, although
that's mostly based off of my personal experience of trying to make 'good'
habits and break 'bad' ones.

It's easy to break a bad habit I have when I'm traveling and easy to break my
good habits when someone has come to visit or I have lots of obligations

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rem7
It’s taking back the world.

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hajderr
This makes me...upset...and glad. As if it takes a virus to realise and change
behaviour.

Edit: another upside was mentioned earlier in the CO2 drop. Will we in the
future see politicans limiting number of aircrafts / year?

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pvaldes
This water is not clean, only looks clean. To claim that the water is clean
you would need to show chemical analysis, not photos of a cormorant in a sunny
day. Sun reflection can make anything blue, same as computer colour
correction.

There are several problems with this photos. Problems in the blue hues for
example. Many of those photos show an unnatural (slightly milky) hue of blue.
If they analyze this water I bet that they will discover traces of bleach and
maybe some methylene

The seaweeds shown are also a bad, not good sign. Its population will increase
in the next months probably. Is a chinese invasive species that shouldn't be
in Venice.

So I'm afraid that Not, nature will not reconquest Venice in two weeks. This
is publicity.

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er0l
:( why the negativity!? It's just clearer... Quote from the article: The
apparent cleanliness of the water is not in fact due to a lack of pollution,
said Davide Tagliapetra, an environmental researcher at the Institute of
Marine Science. He told a local TV station that the reason is the absence of
motorised transport, which normally churns up the muddy canal floor.

