The biggest opportunity post pandemic is to more deeply understand and embrace our relationship with nature. Covid-19 has reminded humans how dependent we are on our eco-systems and the acute connection between human health and that of planet earth. It’s time not only to get back to nature but more deeply to understand and respect the benefits it provides us. Time for us to reflect, revaluate and reimagine the ways in which we use our resources.
The worldwide coronavirus pandemic is not God’s judgement on humanity, but God’s call on people to judge what is more important to them and resolve to act accordingly. It is a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary and what is not. It is a call from our creator telling us to change the way we are living and to get our lives back on track. Time to decide what is the kind of world we want to live in.
We have been given a gift called life and we ought to appreciate it. UN environment chief Inger Andersen has constantly been reminding us that “nature is sending us a message”. Times are changing, and more change is coming. We must adapt to these life changing events and be prepared for any possibility. Life is short. Let us wake up from this nightmare and enjoy our life by making every moment count. Let us be mindful of our earth and it will be kind to us. The pandemic has exposed our vulnerabilities and uncovers those false and superfluous certainties around which we have constructed our daily schedules and priorities. We have not been shaken by wars or injustice around the world, nor do we listen to the cry of the poor or of our ailing planet. We have now been caught off guard by an unexpected storm. This pandemic storm has made us realize that we are all in the same storm in the same boat, all of us fragile. This pandemic has shown us how weak our primary health care system is across the globe but especially in the developing countries where already there is a burden of infectious disease. In a post-pandemic world, concern for our health and health for the planet will keep growing. There will be more willingness from our leaders from across the world to support sustainable systems that are in sync with nature. The pandemic has highlighted the importance for everyone to be able to have a place to call home. It is a human right. To make change happen, we need to have the will. Having this will to change is crucial. Having the will means having the right mindset to pursue changes or allow for change to happen. Having the will also means having the willingness to take action. What is the biggest opportunity we see for positive change in the post pandemic world? Governments will have to re-think social protections and labour rights for new kinds of work.
Eradicating the virus right now from the world is a lot like trying to plan the construction of a stepping stone pathway to the moon. The climate crisis first highlighted the importance of doing what is collectively rational rather than what is individually rational and Covid-19 has underlined it. Whereas climate change put environmental issues at the center, the pandemic has elevated urgency on social issues. Under capitalism man exploits man. We talk of the failure of socialism but where is the success of Capitalism? Capitalism is an organized system to guarantee that greed becomes the primary force of our economic system and allows the few at the top to get very wealthy and has the rest of us riding around thinking that we can be there too. Italian Economist Mariana Mazzucato says “It is time to re-think our blind infatuation with capitalism”. In short…. the sacrifice of humans and nature for the concentration of wealth in very few hands. The disruption caused by Covid-19 is not an isolated event and must be seen in the context of global capitalism. It is a continuation and consequence of the on-going break with nature. This crisis has illuminated the perspective of nature and reminded us of our place in the earth system which we have gravely abused. It has reminded us of the need to decolonize our own minds in order to end the captivities imposed on us by capital itself.
No event since World War II’s end has had as profound a global impact as the present pandemic. The pandemic has triggered a public health and economic crisis on a scale unseen in generations. Even amid the deep uncertainties of today’s global situation, one thing is clear; it is time to start questioning old assumptions and developing a new paradigm. In the decades after World War II, the world made unprecedented strides toward eradicating poverty, reducing childhood mortality, increasing life expectancy, and expanding literacy. The only acceptable response to the present crisis is to pursue a “Great Reset” of our economies, politics, and societies.
The unprecedented and worldwide lockdown has mutilated lives, destroyed livelihoods and devastated economies– especially those working in informal sectors without any social security, healthcare and sick leave, in a crisis like this. The pandemic has proved that Capitalism has failed miserably in alleviating the sufferings of the mass of people. Covid-19 has exposed the multiple structural flaws of global Capitalism which has driven the world perpetually from one crisis into another. The enforced lockdown has taught us how little we need to survive. It has taught us that consumption is incidental and not elemental to our happiness. In our suffering and feeling of helplessness before a tiny virus, it has taught us the importance of empathy as much as the transience and meaninglessness of our wealth and possessions.
(The writer is a social
scientist and practicing criminal lawyer).
