Forward

On this 50th anniversary of Earth Day our mastery over the earth and its species has earned us something quite different than we were expecting. How did this happen? A bat in China bites a wildlife animal? Sells at a market. Infects someone. Pandemic. “In any case, researchers agree that the coronavirus jumped from an animal to a human, a phenomenon known as "zoonotic spillover." As we struggle to meet this pandemic we must not ignore this “spillover” factor and what caused it. We defend human rights but what of the rights of Nature, wild animals, natural habitats and our surrounding environment? In a Lancet Journal article experts cited, “...scientific evidence that support the theory that "overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife, as have so many other emerging pathogens”. It is not surprising then that a UC Davis study of animal species that host viruses known to infect humans found, “The exploitation of wildlife increases the risk of ani...

The “Social Distancing” that will get us through this health crisis needs “Socially Responsible” economic counterparts that establish new ways for us to live, work, learn and care for one another and this planet. “Nothing should go back to normal. Normal wasn’t working.” (Instagram March 2020) The COVID-19 health crisis that we are in the early stages of has all the signs of plunging us into an economic depression worse than the Great Depression while stripping bare the priorities and inequities of our current economic system. During the Great Depression 1929-1939 the highest rate of U.S. unemployment was 24.9%. In March 2020 unemployment swelled to 10 million in two weeks. The Fed went further saying that, “Coronavirus job losses could total 47 million, unemployment rate may hit 32%”. Recently The New York Times Editorial Board asked: “Why is America Choosing Mass Unemployment?” “A number of European countries, after similarly failing to control the spread of the virus, and t...