translated from Spanish: Life after COVID-19: rethinking our relationship with nature

During these weeks we have read various opinions on what we are going to do when we “pass” the COVID-19 pandemic, which undoubtedly has all societies in check. From immediate public health issues, to the relevance of science and the true and obvious possibility of mitigating climate change, the consensus is that, if after this there is no real and structural change in the way we lead our lives and economies, there is little we can change by maintaining the same system. Our society and the planet are sick and we have to accept it. Let’s just think about what happened in 2019, for example, with the global fire crisis, the multiple social outbursts and the growing water crisis. Going against the above would no longer be a difference of “perception” or political opinion, if not frankly a denial of reality. Now, and after COVID-19 too.
There has been decades-long global consensus, among academics and decision makers, that human-developed activities have negative effects and impacts on biota at the planetary level. Now, we see clearly how this environmental crisis is over the same as another climate, a climate, a health crisis, a social one, and that we are experiencing a global crisis scenario. At the same time, we also agree that nature, with its biodiversity and ecosystems, are essential to the well-being of people, and that therefore the survival of our own species depends on it. Even in a scenario of high globalization of technological revolution, artificial intelligence and automation, of international exchanges and markets, every day we depend on nature, and our relationship with it is the key point and underlying theme for our future. We have created a paradox of modernity, where our technological development and the globalization of our activities has left us extremely exposed to the consequences of our own actions.
The Anthropoc,
It has been in the last two decades that we have begun to understand the true magnitude of our impacts on the planet. Thus, we have seen the remarkable changes in the components of the atmosphere, the oceans and thus the climate since the 1960s and 1970s, the product of a fossil fuel-based economy that outsources environmental and social damage. We also observed the accelerated rate of species extinction and ecosystem alteration, which extends on a global scale and is also exacerbated during that period. These environmental degradation processes coincide with several “human” things: the acceleration of expansion and densification of cities, the intensive and unsustainable extraction of natural resources, minerals and fossils. For example, we know based on the recent report of the United Nations and its IPBES platform that, for the Americas, from 1960 to the date, our ecological footprint has tripled, that is, our impact on nature and we have lost between 10 and 25% of our natural forests depending on the region of the continent. Globally, the scenario is not very positive either. IPBES recognizes a loss in wild species populations of an average of 20% since 1900, with more than 1 million endangered species, out of a total of approximately 8 million. Urban areas have doubled since 1990 and more than 75% of land areas and 66% of marine areas show significant impacts of humans.
This period is also characterized by accelerated human mobility, given the conditions of scope and economy of scale of the means of transport and communication. These phenomena are part of what historians and social scientists call the “Great Acceleration”, which intensify after the end of World War II. The metrics of tourism, for example, are eloquent, where the field and therefore the transport of people for leisure purposes continues to grow every year. Until today. All of them have environmental consequences, which we have considered “externalities” of our economic development models.
All these processes converge and are part and consequence of a great planetary change, unparalleled, caused by human beings. Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in 2000 proposed the “Anthropocus”, a new period in the life of the post-Holocene planet. The proposal is currently in the final stages of discussion by the Subcommittee on Quaternary Stratigraphy, which is a constituent body of the International Stratigraphic Commission. All this to formally declare the Anthropoc, as a geological age. From a political point of view, some academics prefer to talk about Capitalocene, holding capitalism accountable as a system of life, economic and political responsible for the state of the planet. The current situation is so complex that it suggests that the Capitalocene will be only a stage of the Anthropocene, in transit, hopefully, to something better.
Healthy ecosystems with fair and resilient societies 
In the Anthropoc, the vulnerabilities of societies and ecosystems overlap. So suddenly we have today in Chile and in many places in the world, a climate crisis and water scarcity, together with a political-social-environmental crisis, with rampant and shameful inequity in the distribution of wealth. Poverty and pollution also overlap in Chile and around the world, where we call slaughter zones, where healthy ecosystem surfaces are very small or virtually non-existent. Globalization does not give back to these communities, their ecosystems, the goods and services they provide to the national economy, or global production. For years, a false dilemma has been created where environmental protection has been postponed to sufficient levels of economic development, something like “first bread, then nature”. It is in these times of crisis that we realize that this dichotomy is completely fallacious, without a healthy nature we will not have a functioning economic system, let alone adequate human well-being.
All these crises are synergy, and today we are facing the bottom of the COVID-19 crisis. In this scenario, so-called emerging and even re-emerging diseases play in a different scenario. In particular, zoonoses, diseases transmitted from animals to humans, are 60% of emerging diseases and 70% of these come from wild animals. Diseases plus the conditions generated by the Anthropoccene, cause what we see today, that a highly contagious virus that jumps and mutates from a bat, a pangolin, – species threatened by human pressure – is transformed into a pandemic. Globalization and rapid exchange and flow of people, materials and goods; to what we can add, the negligence of decision makers and society at large, all these interconnections that we do not take seriously or respect. We don’t need to think about Malay pangolins, let’s just think about the Hanta virus and the typhus of the bushes, both transmitted by native vectors. We can ask ourselves, for example, what is the State policy regarding these emerging diseases in Chile?
What we do today to secure tomorrow: a crash landing
Even if it sounds harsh, it seems that the only thing human beings are really afraid of is disease. All right, pests and epidemics have decimated entire populations in the past. But the understanding of an epidemic in this context of destruction of natural and cultural life systems is a step to extend to all walks of life. Scientists and activists around the world have been fighting for years and decades to bring these socio-environmental issues to high levels of decision-making, at national and global levels; some of them risking or losing their lives. In return, the ruling class has generated many agreements and meetings, some very costly, but which have resulted in few structural changes, or are very slow and unconstitutional. Not even the ambitious climate change agenda, the devastating effects of which have affected all latitudes, have succeeded in changing the course of our system. Moreover, there are sectors of society that deny climate change despite a sea of evidence and serious scientific work, which is now irrefutable. Post-truth and populism were reinstated in the governments of powerful nations at the worst time, and today we suffer their consequences. Changing our model of development and lifestyle will be, as today, forced, not by will but by force of the consequences, for example, with what we see with the COVID-19 pandemic. Now is when, the opportunity when we all see with astonishment what is going on. We need advanced globalization, tolerant of differences and diversity, but aware of limits.
Looking to the post-covid future: three ideas strength
So how can we as a Chilean society face the new challenges? First, we believe it is essential to make macro-policy changes and we have tools already at play. This implies in the concrete:
First, we must understand that we are part of a finite planet in resources and that at this time it is under great stress caused by our own actions. We must as a country sign and comply with global agreements on climate change, biodiversity, law and environmental justice (Escazú Agreement, for example). That at the global and regional level (e.g. The Americas, Latin America), strengthening environmental policies over purely economic interests. Economic growth cannot be the only north, we must have a more comprehensive vision of development-country, which incorporates the well-being of being humassociated with a healthy planet.
Second, we must cross-incorporate scientific and scientific public policy generation cycle. This is critical in all aspects of society, including health, education, food security, water scarcity and adaptation to climate change. We must also open the door to the wisdoms of local communities, native peoples and migrants who can contribute with knowledge and values linked to resilience for better adaptation to changing conditions.
Finally, we must reflect deeply on how collective and individual actions can change our behavior. In an age of globalized like the Anthropoc, we cannot continue to leave the big decisions to a simple individual decision. It is not a question of limiting individual freedom, but it is a question of understanding well the implications of our behavior on the well-being of the whole society. A clear example of this is the global call #QuédateEnCasa to confront COVID-19, which primarily appeals to the solidarity of all fellow citizens. Environmental education can be one of the best ways to open up intergenerational dialogue that allows us to confront the Anthropoc and its unpredictable scenarios.

Original source in Spanish

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