Hope you are all spending a good Christmas break While I quite frankly don’t believe in the Christian meaning of Christmas, I do like that there is some holidays in this period, which means taking a break (albeit little as many deadlines come up on January) and making us reflect. I am realising this is the last post of 2020. And there are a lot of reflections to be made on this year. Some personal (living those for my paper journal, but I can anticipate that there will be some talk of happiness in 2021), and some more global (one starts with a c...). Covid Pandemic
The biggest event of 2020 If I think back at the naivety of the beginning of it all (in February!), thinking it was nothing , then thinking it was going to be over soon, then just ‘to the end of year’. Truth is, none of this is. I was also naive in thinking that this would be the turning point changing the economies, but reality is - as soon as things can open we are trying to get back to old normal and no new normal is on the horizon. Worse. I think this pandemic is giving plastic and single use items a new life. Many more things are wrapped. Plastic cups and take away cups are preferred to glass and ceramic (they could be washed at high temperatures and kill everything..). We have still not really understood that are the pressures on this planet, our spending priorities, are crooked economies that are coming back to bite us with this. We may have some vaccines in the line, and even with those we are choosing to be secretive and hide the safety data, because no matter what the economies have to go forward. I would much rather see governments do something really for the health and safety of the people, of everyone, united for the now and for the tomorrow. Joe Biden’s presidency At least one good thing to come our of this year was the US election. While it could have been a stronger win - joe Biden is the next resident of the White House. Amongst other things, he will take a stance against climate change (he recognises it’s an issue, and that’s already a good thing!). Read more on this great Washington post article European green deal The European green deal plan was presented at the end of 2019 and started to be implemented this year. amongst other things money have been mobilised for large projects, most of which are based on action and empirical research that should bring immediate benefits (so not a lot of space for theories ), for example with regards to the restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem services and the farm to fork strategy. This is great news as it’s putting science at the forefront, valuing once again this sometimes forgotten branch... All in all it has been a weird, crazy year, that should leave us ponder I’d suggest some reality checks , ready for some meaningful ‘new years resolution’. For starters: less naivety (sorry to say, it is not going to end coming 00:00 of the 1st jan 2021 and the vaccine is not going to be a miracle ) So, let’s enjoy the peace in these days with the ‘out of office’ automatic email reply and do some interior searching of how to move forward and change. I don’t mean to be depressive or ruin your vacation - on the contrary, there is some optimism, but we also need to put our work towards it (stop sharing fake news and telling our friends off when they do, complaining at this new ‘single use everything mentality’, start thinking with our own heads..these would already be big step forward..) I promise you happiness as my 2021 welcome - see you on the other side!!
1 Comment
12/28/2020 08:44:21 pm
I completely agree about this pandemic giving plastic a new life. I know that everyone is worried but we're using way too much plastic that's harming our environment :(
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