Monday, May 25, 2020

nature has provided us with an enemy (Covid-19) that demands our collective,unified,global response!

nature has provided us with an enemy (Covid-19) that demands our collective,unified,global response!
No nation can solve this problem by itself!

this pandemic highlights our collective interdependence and the profound interconnectedness of our world
We are intimately connected with the environment and with other people
What we do to the environment,we do to ourselves!
What we do to others...,we also do to ourselves!
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the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that delay in response to a crisis has immense costs.
Delay in response to climate change will also result in conditions. getting beyond our control
The immanent threat of death shows us our deepest vulnerabilities
global threats such as epidemic diseases have had a transformative effect on human development.
We must strenghten international cooperation to deal with global problems.
Widespread adversity has a unifying effect , cements a sense of sympathy and solidarity wch translates into transforming political and social policies (such as unemployment insurance ,old age pension,and universal healthcare)
people are willing to surrender some rights and freedoms in times of threat and crisis.
Individuals are willing to make sacrifices for the public good.
There are moments in time when civic responsibility takes precedent over individual rights ,and we are asked to think of others before ourselves.
Hopefully people will have learned how to live differently and more responsibly. The pandemic may result in permanent change in people's behavior and consumption habits.
We have to consume less of everything!

the delusional belief that we can grow infinitely is causing planetary ecosystem collapse. The lesson of this pandemic is that exponential growth --whether population growth or economic growth --is unsustainable in the same way that unlimited growth of cancer and viruses is unsustainable. A parasite that destroys its host is itself doomed! We cannot continue to exploit the resources of our planetary host without risking self-extinction.
We need to "flatten the curve" of greenhouse gas emissions in order to mitigate the disastrous effects of climate change.
We have to flatten some other curves: human population growth,economic growth,carbon emissions... in order to reduce pollution ,environmental degradation,and catastrophic ecosystem collapse. We must bring the same resourcefulness to fighting climate change that we did to fighting Covid-19.
If we go back to the way things were, ...we will have learned nothing.
We must adjust/adapt our economic systems to current conditions( "planet before profit"),strenghtening environmental regulations,rapidly shifting to renewable energy,
accelerating transition to a green economy
,initiating reforestation projects, stabilizing unlimited population growth,...and other solutions thst may not fit within the current prevailing capitalist "profit-and-growth" paradigm










5 comments:

  1. “We have brought this on ourselves because of our absolute disrespect for animals and the environment"
    --Jane Goodall

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  2. Conversation with Paul Rogers:

    https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1756732483686/

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Human pandemics are caused by human contact with wildlife. Pathogens endemic in wild animals jump from their animal hosts to human. populations through increasing human contact and interactions with animals. As human population density increases , these interactions will inevitably increase. Human incursion into wildlife habitats will facilitate the transfer of animal pathogens to humans. This means that pandemics will be more frequent as Human population continues to grow.
    .Perhaps it is nature's way of limiting human growth. --a negative. feedback loop!

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  5. Brazilian Amazon rainforest releasing 20% more carbon than it is absorbing/Nature

    https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/the-americas/amazon-rainforest-emitted-20-more-co2-than-it-absorbed-over-last-decade-1.1214351

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/30/brazilian-amazon-released-more-carbon-than-it-absorbed-over-past-10-years

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