Well-being should be goal of post-pandemic world

Re: “B.C. needs a green, just and healthy recovery,” commentary, May 14.

Thanks to Trevor Hancock for raising the question of where we go after the pandemic is over.

The world is in this frightening health crisis in large part because of the development of a global economy and society where widespread international travel by politicians, business people, migrant workers, tourists, family visitors and others — all as producers and/or consumers — is a prominent feature of the relentless pursuit of economic growth.

Meanwhile, despite some minor benefits from the current drop in resource consumption, ecological destruction continues and could prove even more threatening to public health and human well-being than any coronavirus.

We need to build what Hancock describes as a sustainable and inclusive world economy and a just and healthy society. Human well-being should be the fundamental goal. This will require cooperation and caring on a worldwide international level.

Some will find these proposals utopian. But the alternatives, especially the notion of returning to where we were before, could well lead to further disasters in the world economy, increasing numbers of fatal pandemics and other consequences, including destruction of species, which will devastate this precious planet.

We have been warned. Our children, grandchildren and those who follow deserve the best possible world in which they can flourish.

Rennie Warburton Victoria