Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Richenda Wilson of the East London community-led food enterprise Growing Communities (GC) describes how dealing with the rollercoaster of COVID-19 – aside from being ridiculously hard work – has inspired thoughts about the future of UK food and farming, about change, closeness and resilience.
The ongoing environmental damage is predicted to make humans vulnerable to further plagues. When biodiversity is on the wane, viruses have one particular species to live on – humans.
Most of the world’s 20 leading economies, including Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, are choosing to support fossil fuels over clean energy as part of their coronavirus economic recovery packages, although China is outspending on renewables by a ratio of 4 to 1, according to data collected by Energy Policy Tracker.
It’s been said that “with great power comes great responsibility”. It’s now time for the food sector to demonstrate how the new normal is going to go beyond statements of solidarity.
There are practical reasons to believe that Normal is a fairyland to which we can never return. The virus has not gone away, and is likely to keep recurring in waves. But let’s focus on another question: if such a land existed, would we want to live there?
The need to adapt to a virus that may be with us for some while yet, might serve as a broader prompt to forge social equity, community resilience, and a necessary redirection of resources.
Nina Simons considers our question of “What could possibly go right?” from her view as Co-Founder of nonprofit, Bioneers.
The recent surge in Black Lives Matter protests following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, along with growing evidence that COVID-19 is disproportionately hitting communities of color, have raised urgent questions about structural racism and white privilege in the U.S.
The food system was broken long before coronavirus came along. The current crisis has exposed the fault-lines and renewed urgency to tackle root causes. This means asking hard questions and digging deeper for solutions.
There are significant parallels between the response to the COVID-19 contagion and what the nation must do to combat and adapt to Earth’s warming. In both cases, national science-based policies must be put in place to address the considerable threats posed by each.
The impact of coronavirus will be huge. But it is not yet the crisis that could push our global society into the phase change required for the Great Transition.
Imagine a process in which food and farming policies were designed with social justice as the central tenet. What would such a process look like? Whose voices would be heard, and whose interests would be represented? What questions would need to be asked and how would we know that social justice had been addressed?
