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Special About Coronavirus
COVID-19
50- Vote!
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49- Write to your local MP/Local Government Representative
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48- Raise Your Voice Against Discrimination
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47- Advocate And Educate
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46- Organise a “No Impact Week” at Work
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45- Mentor Young People
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44- Support Women’s Equality
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43- Voice Your Support for Equal Pay for Equal Work
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42- Support Economically Ignored/Vulnerable Minorities
41- Support Circular Economy
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40- Empower Refugees by Supporting Refugee Jobs
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39- Empower People with Disabilities
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38- Volunteer
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37- Donate Part of Your Earnings
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36- Embrace Slow Travel
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35- Fly Less
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34- Walk More
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33- Use More Sustainable Transport
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32- Work Remotely
31- Stay Well-Informed
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30- Use less paper/go paperless
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29- Make the World Green Again
28- Offset your travel carbon emissions
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27- Recycle
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26- Patronise Green Brands
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25- Lengthen the Life Cycle of Your Clothes
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24- Support Sustainable Fashion
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23- Buy pre-loved
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22- Freeze Fresh Produce and Leftovers
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21- Champion Composting
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20- Don’t waste food
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19- Grow Your Own Food
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18- Support Sustainable Food Production
17- Reduce Meat Consumption
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16- Look for the Fairtrade label
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15- Keep Beaches Clean
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14- Keep our Oceans Plastic Free
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13- Recycle Batteries Properly / Use Rechargeable Batteries
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12- Use Energy Indoors Responsibly
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11- INTERVIEW: LITER OF LIGHT
10- Harvest Rainwater
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9- Use Water Filters
8- Lessen your water consumption
7- Reuse towels and sheets in hotels
6- Shop locally
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5- Support Products Without Planned Obsolescence
4- Use Reusable Containers
3- Bring reusable bags to supermarkets
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2- Cut use of plastics
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1- Be A Responsible Consumer
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The coronavirus pandemic is a stark reminder of our interconnectedness with the natural world, calling us to cultivate a deeper respect for it.
A butterfly flaps its wings over Brazil and causes a tornado in Texas. Or in these times of coronavirus, a bat flaps its wings over China and causes a systemic whirlwind around the planet. How can a tiny event in one part of the world create such a monumental global impact?
natural order arises from the operations of the universe, a living entity exhaling “pneuma”, the breath of life. A core belief of Buddhism is that everything is interconnected; no beings or phenomena exist independently of other beings.
In more contemporary times, the late astrophysicist Carl Sagan underlined our common genesis with the universe when he said, “we are made of star stuff, we are a way for the cosmos to know itself”, because the atoms that form us and everything else in the world were forged in the nuclear cores of stars. And in the 1970s, the Gaia Hypothesis emerged to posit that the Earth functions as a closely interlinked system, wherein living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings in a synergistic way to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life.
Such beliefs can be observed in scientific fact, if we contemplate the symbiotic nature of our world and its infinite interactions that define our cohabitation on Earth: humans and animals depend on plants to breathe oxygen, plants rely on the carbon dioxide we breathe out to photosynthesize the sun’s energy, plant roots provide sugars for fungi, and in turn fungi help plants extract nutrients and water from the soil and protects it from harmful organisms. Biologists refer to “ecosystem services” as the numerous ways nature supports us and each other, from the birds and the bees that pollinate crops, to the forests that filter our water and serve as the “lungs” of the planet.
If the current global pandemic is anything, it is a sobering reminder of our fundamental interconnectedness with the natural world. This is hardly a new concept — the original Greek and Roman Stoics explored how individuals should act based on logic and an understanding of nature, believing that a
global warming will select for microbes with higher heat tolerance that can defeat our endothermy defenses and bring new infectious diseases”. He cites a particular climate-related threat that can be unleashed from the fungal kingdom: “We have proposed that global warming will lead many fungal species to adapt to higher temperatures, and some with pathogenic potential for humans will break through the defensive barrier provided by endothermy”. In the journal, the professors have stated that “long-term strategies are urged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the trend of rising temperatures.”
This strong call is echoed by the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which explicitly links climate action with a healthier environment – “from cleaner air and reduced risks of extreme heat waves to keeping in check the spread of diseases”.
Small things teach big lessons
Our intimacy with the invisible natural world could not be highlighted more by the rapid spread of the virus to nearly every continent on the planet within a mere three months. It took a microbe, which does not exhibit the particular human ailment of drawing lines between race, colour, gender or status, to teach us a lesson about our common humanity.
As of this writing, billions of us around the world are still unable to leave our homes because of government-sanctioned quarantines and lockdowns. If anything, as the near future is yet uncertain, this is a good time to reflect on our humble place in the world, and more importantly, to think about how we could cultivate a deeper respect for all living things. For if we are to look at ourselves as one body, with different parts that depend on each other to function, perhaps our rising fevers point to the indisputable fact that our planet is burning up. Our symptoms have emerged because our planet itself is sick.
Many have said that life after Covid-19 will never be the same again. Given the systemic collapse of the global economy, public services, supply chains and social norms, is it wise to continue to go back to the status quo? Now would be a good time to start to think about how to chart our way forward — instead of disconnecting and acting unilaterally from the natural world, it is high time we begin to live in harmony with it by taking only what we need and ensure the planet’s health — and our own.
For as we have observed and painfully felt, our relationship with our planet can be as fragile as a butterfly’s wings.
As the coronavirus crisis begins to rise in countries including the UK, US and India, the peak of the virus is already upon Spain. Sharing their experiences are some of those fighting on the frontlines in the battle against COVID-19.
As this article is being written, the coronavirus crisis is in its heaviest phase yet. In the last few days Italy has experienced the highest amount of fatalities in a day. In India thousands find themselves displaced, without homes or work, caught in a no-man’s land. In the United States, early signs are worrying, with over 2,300 fatalities according to The New York Times. Like Italy, Spain has also registered the highest amount of deaths in a day from the virus to date.
Spanish society is showing a level of resilience. People are following the protocols ordered by the Government and not leaving their houses for anything more than going to the supermarket, pharmacy or hospital. One of the most moving examples of solidarity over the last two weeks has been the daily routine of everyone going out to their balconies and windows to applaud the country’s public health staff at eight o’clock each evening.
The gesture is one that is appreciated by nurses and doctors nationwide. To see how
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their work is appreciated by the general public is a much needed lift to a collective that currently find themselves under-equipped, and putting their health at risk every day, in hospitals that, especially in the Spanish capital, Madrid, are overrun with patients. Pharmacists, police, military and supermarket workers are all also continuing their work on the now desolate streets of Spain.
Perhaps given the outgoing, laid back, sun-soaked image of Spain that many of us (including native Spaniards) have of the country, the lockdown is even more apparent. In Madrid, silent streets are occasionally interrupted by ambulance sirens and police helicopters, empty terraces and shops with the shutters down are so far from the usual reality of the city. In other parts of the country, the severity of the situation has not escalated to the same level as it has in the capital, but the expectation that it may do hangs over hospitals which are already being pushed to the edge of their limits.
Spain’s heroes on the frontline
Miguel is a nurse working in the Basque Country. He has spent a good few years away from his former profession, but he, like many others, has responded to the Government’s recall of medical workers. He tells me that
Voices of Spain
by: Daiva Sen
Click to hear the article,
voiced by Daiva Sen
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Military Police Officer Juan comments that after a period of tension in February following joint Police/Guardia Civil protests over unequal pay (compared to other global police forces), the industrial action and ongoing pay-dispute was put on hold as “right now, we have to be at the front and do what we usually do which is be there for the people”.
The scarcity of the means that we have is fruit of a lack of investment over the last few years. This is a system that was working at the limit in normal conditions. When a crisis has arrived we have seen overflows because we were at the limit. Every year with the flu, we are on the edge of collapse.
Fernando
GP, Andalucía
Would we be ready for the next pandemic?
In a recent interview with El País, author Yuval Noah Harari stated that it is unlikely that we face another pandemic like this within our lifetimes. Dr Francesc Xavier is not completely convinced saying that “unfortunately, I think that there will be more pandemics of this kind, these transmissions of animal pathogens to humans [have been evident] in humanity for thousands of years…. In places like China with very high population density, where in some areas they live with live animals in markets, it is easier for these transmissions to happen and so sooner or later, it’s logical that a similar situation happens. The important thing is not if it happens again, but the reaction to avoid the consequences being like these”. Urologist Alejandro believes that global communication and management of pandemics will improve, pointing towards Taiwan’s management of Covid-19 following 2003’s SARS pandemic as a possible indication of this. In a direct sense therefore, how to tackle pandemics will hopefully be a lesson in global communication and collaboration that will especially serve those who this time around, largely ignored the warnings from China and the World Health Organization.
Can we act on our reflections?
In search of a positive angle some have pointed to ecological regeneration and dropping air pollution as a silver lining among the many clouds. Whilst it is of course true that a lack of human activity has led to a fall in global contamination, it is hard to see this as a significant consolation in face of both the increasing human cost at the hands of Covid-19 and the fact that the mitigation of pollution within this time can be undone by the resumption of business as usual when the gears of the global economy begin to grind back into action.
The most important lessons we can learn are perhaps less tangible, and more the fruits of reflection on — 1 — our society’s value system, 2 — our own mortality, not as individuals but the human race as a whole.
On this second point, Dr Francesc Xavier identified that a big contributor in the halting of Covid-19 actioin Europe/Spain, was that people saw China as something distant, something which simply wouldn’t be able to touch us. The distance of climate change is comparable in this respect, perhaps more in terms of time rather than geographically.
Just as many saw the spread and spike in China and did not take its impact seriously, the effects of climate change will punish our collective inaction in what may seem like a distant future but will manifest itself within many of our lifetimes. Palliative specialist Ana also pointed out how we see climate change as a very distant threat, with GP Fernando worrying that regulation of carbon emissions will be completely parked in terms of priorities, as the restimulation of the economy will as ever, come first. An important question worth asking ourselves comparing climate change and Covid-19 is — do we think that tomorrow will never come when it comes to the consequences of our actions? Last minute measures will prove to be as effective with the climate crisis as they have been with Covid-19, that is to say, somewhat, but not nearly enough. We can’t afford to keep putting the economy ahead of everything, when as we can see, this is not a chicken/egg situation — there is no economy without people, which is why last minute measures designed to keep the economy functioning at its normal velocity, cannot be the way forward when dealing with crises, and the climate crisis is most definitely included.
Looking at what is important to us, as societies, what we value will hopefully be called into question and deeply reflected upon once we come out on the other side of the tunnel. On an individual level, as much as applauding public health systems at eight o’clock is a beautiful gesture of solidarity, it will prove to be empty if we turn our back on public health in the long-term when the crisis ends. This goes for both people and politicians, as public health does not need just a season of applause at a time of crisis, but continuing advocacy, and crucially — increased investment instead of further austerity.
Yu Ching is optimistic that here in Spain, people’s naturally easy going character will afford them a fast social recovery, though the economic one may take more time. This social recovery however, will depend a lot on how people are directly affected. Paediatrician Guadalupe says “I think we are all going to experience the crisis in a close way... {and] this is going to stay with us”. Dr Francesc similarly adds “Never before have we found ourselves in a situation like this… this will surely leave its mark on people”.
Taking into account this mark that Dr Francesc talks about, as Ana says, “I hope this serves us to reflect…”. It is just that which many of her colleagues on the frontlines express — a hope — rather than a prediction — that in the wake of a crisis which has affected us all, we can learn to give value to what we have traditionally overlooked, and in the future, be decisive, acting on the endless wells of human knowledge, rather than putting the relentless forward motion of the world’s economy ahead of its people, waiting till danger is on our doorstep. Never have the words “wake-up call” been more apt. We will survive this crisis. But if we do not all do as Ana hopes — reflect — we may not survive the next one.
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