200916 Hope: a real sea-change?
The maples that turn red are among the first trees to change as fall approaches. A load of firewood was delivered yesterday by a most friendly neighbour who keeps busy in retirement providing small services to residents and seasonal visitors. He owns and gets to drive this groovy tractor!!
Sept. 16 [Mummayaga is currently in Quebec]
Several recent articles have given me hope. A Guardian piece today, by Mohammad El-Erian, describes some silver linings to the covid-19 crisis, among them cooperation between public and private sectors, between nations' scientists and corporations, renewed understanding and hope for climate change, among other things.* Meanwhile Prime Minister Trudeau is looking at going green, committing to leaving an oil-fueled (haha) energy platform to force Canada towards an end to carbon emissions. This remark ( from 2019) by Trudeau was quoted in an article by Michael Harris in The Tyee, September 14, 2020:
“That means not putting any more carbon emissions into the air than we take out.... It’ll require us to slash our emissions, transform our economy, and use the power of nature — like planting trees and protecting ecosystems — to bring us to net zero.... We will hit net zero by 2050 — not only because we can, but because we must.”
Trudeau is expected to reiterate this green push in his September 23 throne speech, in addition to hopeful movements towards child-care, improved health care and a guaranteed basic income. **
In June, Toronto's Mayor Tory put forward a motion to examine police protocols that "will lead to real change now....Sensible meaningful policing change must happen...lay out the steps to ensure that it does happen." (Let's hope this is not smoke-blowing rhetoric.)*** ("bold" lettering mine.)
These glimmers of hope are encouraging in the face of a pandemic which WHO (World Health Organization) declares is only just beginning, as India's caseload crosses 5 million.**** (Still below the US numbers!) A new world order, as hard as it will be to achieve, is necessary - our only way forward as humanity. Anything less takes us into a future crippled and broken, our failure to care for our world and our global family leading to irrecoverable loss. We are watching on a smaller scale as the US, broken already, slips further into the mud.
Don't stop talking about what is important: equitable wealth distribution, racial and gender (and age) equality, environmental responsibility (Thousands of birds are falling out of the sky, literally, in the southwest US!*5) a model of governance that gives our global society a brighter, more humane future.
Autumn arrives: leaves rattle along the road. School is beginning: remember that this too represents a new order, not a return to pre-covid standards but, with innovation and determination, a move to better learning for children, perhaps a more interactive school-home and work-home model embracing healthier social norms.
Keep safe! Thank you for visiting. Wave at a neighbour today!
** https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/09/14/Trudeau-Green-Shift/
*** Mayor Tory quote from : https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-toronto-mayor-backs-list-of-police-changes-but-opposes-calls-for-1/
**** https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/16/global-report-indias-coronavirus-cases-pass-5-million?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
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