We have entered totally uncharted territory lately, as we all know, due to a virus that may or may not have started in a wet market in a Chinese city most of us have never heard of before this event. We had been warned about viruses becoming more frequent as global warming accelerates. and also here. (https://www.livescience.com/55632-deadly-diseases-emerge-from-global-warming.html)
Our current President has dismissed science, the scientists that could have helped prevent it, the budget for them, our global alliances that we rely on for support and almost any mention of a science based approach. We have one of the most ignorant men of the modern era leading us at the most important time of the last twenty years. Those that elected him were fools then and now will likely follow him into the hospital as they listen to his lies and misinformation. Many innocent people will die from this. We are in free fall and are racing to find a way to stop the pandemic. Most likely we will, but at what cost?
I have been busy setting up remote at-home workstations for clients, complete with video conferencing, using the remote access tool TeamViewer. (highly recommended). So I apologize for not having kept up on this blog, which so many tell me they rely on for local environmental news. It’s been amazing to watch as people who have resisted virtual communications as it has grown, suddenly find themselves needing to become proficient with it to survive. People can change when they have to. It’s a lesson worth noting as we face the future.
The only good news out of all of this, is that we are seeing in real time, what the Green New Deal may have accomplished on a orderly basis, which is the radical slowing of our green house gases into the environment. Certainly there will still be coal fired electrical generation happening, but with the vast bulk of petroleum based engines being idled, we will gain some insight into what it means to stop oil use globally.
We can now watch, in real time, as we see how much impact a major shift away from oil will have. I’m looking forward to seeing the data.
I’m still hopeful. As Mindy Lubber, the CEO of Ceres, a sustainability non profit organization said in a recent Forbes article,
One thing that history has shown us is that a crisis can produce real change. The power of collective action will become evident. True leaders will emerge. The impossible will become inevitable. Innovative ideas and policy solutions will take hold, save lives and eventually get the economy back on track.
Stay strong, get out and get a walk. Protect yourself and stay healthy. We’ll need all of us after this is over to move back into real change for the next crisis that our warming world is creating.
Filed under: Environmental Activism, Environmental Science, Global Warming, Government, Puget Sound | Tagged: Air Pollution, Puget Sound |
The global marketplace dominates now. I hope the idea of living and eating more locally with local resources becomes more possible again. Right now we have ships back and forth from long distances and lots of pollution from those ships. Relying on everything from China or anywhere else is the normal until this pandemic shows us that isn’t as sustainable.
Thanks Al for keeping the environment in focus; it is a serial pandemic without only one virus. P
Thanks for the kind words Pat!