We can rebuild smarter after virus
Re: How’s the Weather, June 23.
Gordon McBean is so right — we’re in a climate crisis as well as a COVID-19 crisis.
It’s time to take stock and prepare as best we can for an uncertain future.
We have learned we can act collectively in response to public health officials to “flatten the curve” of transmission, and we can learn how to live a physically distanced life in a “new normal.”
We have also learned how interconnected this global world truly is as the virus skipped quickly from one country to the next, and how the virus extracted its largest toll on the most vulnerable: the poor, people with pre-existing health conditions, those living and working in settings where physical distancing is not possible, and especially frail seniors in long-term care. We have seen that the pandemic has had a much greater impact on women everywhere: the essential service workers, caregivers of extended families and community leaders responding to needs of the most vulnerable, in Canada and around the world.
We know the pandemic requires a global response. No longer can we just look at health care investments within our borders to protect us from the next wave of COVID -19. As global citizens, each of us is only as strong as the most vulnerable. McBean suggests we must adopt a strategy of “building back better.”
Yes: We have the opportunity at this surreal point in time to do this, focusing on a green and just recovery for all. This is a world in which countries in the global South can build strong health care systems, address the tragedies of extreme poverty and hunger, and build sustainable economies that make international assistance no longer necessary. This need is especially true is sub-Saharan Africa where the impact of climate change compounded by COVID-19 is taking an enormous toll.
Canada must invest in a global response by increasing its international assistance, especially in support of locally led solutions and the critical role that women-led organizations are playing in addressing the pandemic and the climate crisis.
Pat Dolan, Aylmer