Covid Journal, August 22, 2020

Colombia’s Former President Embraces Ancient Ways As Possible ‘Cure’ for Covid

Hopefully, more people like former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos come to understand that the sooner we stop waging war on our planet (and ourselves), the sooner we’ll be able to focus on a cure for diseases like Covid.

We have to ‘reimagine our relationship with nature’.

ONE MILLION species are at the threat of EXTINCTION.

His words of advice:

It has somehow become normal to question science and the lessons we should by now have learned from indigenous peoples. For example, the dangers of disease that come with taking wild animals out of their habitats and bringing them into densely populated cities have been ignored. Meanwhile, the prioritization of climate change and environmental protections is sometimes lacking among world leaders.

Now we face a global public health disaster that has already cost us more than 264,000 lives and threatens to ruin economies and test nations and international institutions to their breaking points. History has taught us that peace doesn’t emerge naturally. We must ensure that after humanity has won the war against this virus, we don’t allow the rise of nationalism and authoritarianism, but rather, build international bridges and heal wounds

Indigenous peoples have been trying to show us the way. They understand the bond between man and nature better than any politician or scientist could ever hope to. By heeding their wisdom, we can save ourselves and the planet.

Fighting Our Fragile Food Systems

Many people other than me are obsessed with food … and not just the good stuff 🙂

Charles Marohn of Strong Towns has put together some thoughts on why and how we need to repair our damaged food chains.

ALL towns should have the first priority of getting people fed.

And sign me up for this: converting vast landscapes like golf courses into functional food ‘villages’.

We have so much land at our disposal. For example, Toronto owns five golf courses that are losing money every year, which provide no benefit to their surrounding communities. We could establish permanent community-led urban farms and produce markets in these spaces. It’s been done before: in 2005, Seattle integrated a racial and food justice lens into all their municipal departments and provided huge tracts of public land for urban agriculture activities. They launched markets for immigrant farmers from Southeast Asia and East Africa who were residing in public housing to sell their food to other residents and to stores and restaurants. It’s been hugely successful.

By allowing people to control the distribution of their own food, we could provide Torontonians with the resources to meet their own needs. The majority of our food flows into the city from large-scale industrial farms, and the majority of profits flow out. We don’t need to settle for a food system that’s dependent on workers earning poverty wages in exploitative environments. Now that Covid’s keeping us inside, we could change city bylaws to make it easier for cooks to sell food prepared in their own homes. We could create government-subsidized produce markets and support the launch of community food hubs in every neighbourhood. And we could build on CERB and provide every Canadian with a monthly benefit redeemable for food that’s grown or prepared in the surrounding area.

I get the idea of converting lands to functional farms, but let’s also remind ourselves (even though we don’t want to) that Canada is COLD 6 months of the year, so maybe skating rinks, greenhouses and many other things should also be a part of the puzzle when it comes to planning better.

Our food chain gets stronger when there are fewer links and they are closer. It’s simple math.

BUT we need to consider all of the angles associated with efficient food maintenance: seeds (and collecting them), rotation of crops (and not just monoculture), organic/sustainable vs chemical intrusions, preserving and storing excess produce once it all comes in (so we can enjoy beans and tomato sauce in the winter) and greenhouses. LOTS of greenhouses. Which adds on a different concern that’s related: a need to plan for better networks of renewal energy.

Also, now that people have started to stetch their legs and have actually gone outside to walk, ride and roll, maybe more people will appreciate that we need more green spaces as we plan our cities. More parks, trails and trees will help us all enjoy the healthy side effects of social distancing and isolation.

US Feds Partner With Yale to Survey Messaging for Vaccines …

Is it any wonder people get their back up about vaccines when (a) other treatments are coming to light (see above) and (b) the federal government (ie. Trump is involved somewhere) is trying to ‘control’ the message about vaccinations once available?

The US feds are sponsoring a survey with Yale University to address Covid-19 vaccine messaging (part 1).

Testing of different messages includes the following:

• Other: Control message
• Other: Baseline message
• Other: Personal freedom message
• Other: Economic freedom message
• Other: Self-interest message
• Other: Community interest message
• Other: Economic benefit message
• Other: Guilt message
• Other: Embarrassment message
• Other: Anger message
• Other: Trust in science message
• Other: Not bravery message

So again, I’m not ‘anti-vax’, but I do find it curious that the ‘science isn’t complete’ and the powers that be have jumped to vaccine as the only option when it comes to treatment for Covid-19.

I can’t wait to see what shows up for the marketing message based on the results above.

… While Fewer Americans Decide to Line Up If a Vaccine is Available

Perhaps it’s situations like the above that are driving these numbers, but unfortunately many people (especially in the US) are questioning the validity of treatments when they hit the streets.

I think the key message that will help me sign up right away will be safety, public benefit and minimal profits for pharmaceutical companies. On the latter note, I get the cash grab that’s happening with companies like Netflix and Amazon, but when it comes to the health of the planet’s inhabitants, it’s hard to stomach someone raking in trillions of dollars while small businesses, non-profits and other people and organizations languish if they don’t sign up as well.

I have to admit that the equation creates a troubling sense of frustration with humans as a species. We can’t trust anyone because we’re being lied to all the time and we have to use our limited resources on a one-on-one basis to try to identify who we should trust and which agenda is the least harmful. We no longer seem to have the bandwidth to help our felllow people without subjecting them to some kind of cruelty or reminding them where they came from.

But we have to try to be human again even when the monsters continue to hide in our closets and under the bed.

We have to help each other without charging them admission.