Transformations and Rethinking Development - Thanks to the Pandemic

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X20303600?dgcid=raven_sd_recommender_email

From the journal, World Development Volume 138, February 2021, 105233 -

Article title: " Post-pandemic transformations: How and why COVID-19 requires us to rethink development".

SSDD simply won't do anymore.  Neoliberal economics, the Oligarchy & Plutocracy Era, and the days of Crony-Casino-Disaster-Surveillance Capitalism are all at the beginning of their end.  Most likely, the combination of democratic socialism plus Adam Smith capitalism*** (a Mixed Economy) - which most free countries now have to varying degrees - will become stronger.  That, coupled with a genuinely eco-ethical approach to Nature & its resources, will be the new paradigm.

[*** As I've pointed out before, Adam Smith was in favor of small business, not mega business.  He denigrated the concept of monopolies, and rather than support them, he decried the so-called "Masters of the Universe" - the Big Biz men who thought they ruled the world.  His idea was for small business to benefit common people.]

Perhaps then, more people will understand that when we damage ecosystems because of genuine necessity, we should take care to keep the damage as small as possible.  Why?  Because one of the many key services provided by the ecosystems of Nature is:  they are natural barriers to the spread of disease.

The article at the link above addresses the following topics re post-pandemic development:

1.  science and policy;

2.  resilient economies;

3.  the nexus between the citizenry and the State; and

4.  new ways of thinking & acting in relation to all the above and sustainability.

While the article is about world development, especially re the North-South (in general) global inequality, I believe its concepts can be applied more regionally and locally, and to more equitable "development" in "developed" countries.  These ideas, I think, should start at the grassroots level (county, city).  Then State or Province and National politicians will be more amenable to instituting needed support at their levels.  From the bottom up is usually (not always) better than from the top down.  Those at the top sometimes seem to be out of touch with the practical reality of the everyday/common people.

It's highly probable that many researchers and some politicians, policy makers, and a few private companies (& others) have been working on sustainability & equity (in the ethical sense) since at least the 2008 Crash.  Now we need to kick that into high gear.  A massive shift is on the horizon, and there's no time to waste in getting to it.

Tick-tock.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Water Crisis, Plus PFAS Pollution, Plus Water Quality & the Pandemic

 In the not too distant future, this will affect every one of us.  Not enough is being done to mitigate the situation.

Explained | World's Water Crisis | FULL EPISODE | Netflix - YouTube

If you can't spare the time to watch all of the short video above, at least watch the first 5 minutes.  The stats/metrics starting at 2:35 will amaze you.  One of the problems is that people see water all over the place and tend to think there's no shortage of potable water.  That view has to change.

PFAS pollution is a public health emergency in the USA, and probably several other countries as well.  You would never know it by the coverage it receives from the corporate, mainstream media and politicians.

Forever Chemicals Are Widespread in U.S. Drinking Water - Scientific American

Finally---

What the pandemic shows us about water quality---

Pandemic spotlight on urban water quality (springeropen.com)

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

It's Not a Great Mystery

The first link: 

Protecting nature is vital to escape 'era of pandemics’ – report | Wildlife | The Guardian

A report issued by a scientific group which was convened by the  Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services includes the following conclusions (among others):

1.  the increasing number and frequency of pandemics is due in large part to anthropocentric damage to natural ecosystems;

2.  in addition to reaction to pandemics, prevention is crucial; and,

3.  leading experts in ecology, wildlife biology, epidemiology, and similar fields have made the above points clear, but there has been little government action.

Here's a link to the report:

IPBES Workshop on Biodiversity and Pandemics Report_0.pdf

The Executive Summary starts on page 2, and in it, needed actions are capsulized.

Politicians have been tinkering around the edges of the pandemic problem for decades.  Emphasis almost always is on a reaction to an outbreak.  Not enough effort is put into prevention.  That involves significantly reducing our negative impact on the natural environment.  We have to stop pretending we're doing that already.  Not only politicians have to stop; all of us must.

Suggestion:  bookmark the above three links; continually build your eco-library.  [If you've never done "library research" prior to the advent of the internet, you may not fully realize how fortunate we are to have such a tool:]

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Not only my opinion.  Happy Trails

The Dynasty That Never Was, PLUS - It's Time to Dump Neoliberalism Forever

 Trump hates being Old News.  No one pays much attention to him anymore.  Lately, most of the focus has been on the Neoliberal & his Team.  That's great.  Trump should be totally shunned.  His mental illness is now more visible than ever before.  The more he blabbers about the election, & the more he virtually ignores the raging pandemic, the crazier he looks.  Even Repubs finally are taking note... jumping ship, resigning on their own, making public comments criticizing the Cult Leader.  It's about time.

Trump soon will leave in disgrace.  He'll still be around politics, making noise now & again; but that only will appeal to, at most, about 20% of the USA population... perhaps less.  The man-child finally is Old News.

The biggest testament to the political ignorance of Trump True Believers is their calling Biden a "socialist" (or a puppet of socialists).  Apparently, they know essentially nothing at all about neoliberalism (which isn't "new", or "liberal").  

I think we're the only country in the entire world with a majority of folks who don't have a clue about that ideology.  Everyone else gets it.  Plus, except for Oligarchs (& their puppets), everyone else despises it.  At least it's finally getting mentioned once in awhile in American public discourse.  Again, it's about time.

In my view, until this country fully understands neoliberalism, we will continue to have:  rule by Oligarchs/Plutocrats (whether Repub or Dem), gross inequality, perpetual war, the American "Empire", American hegemony, monopoly-crony-casino capitalism, increasing shrinkage of the middle class, increasing poverty, increasing privatization (which means high fees for "public" services), stagnated wages, less of a social safety net, more pandemics, more suicides (especially among veterans & other young people), more social unrest, more ecological devastation, more mega bank fraud, more propaganda, etc., ad nauseam.  

It's way past time for a paradigm shift which dumps neoliberalism forever.  Except for the Super-Rich, that ideology has been an utter failure.

More and more people around the world - especially in Europe, Canada, a significant portion of South America, parts of Africa, parts of Asia, & elsewhere - are realizing that we all must change our impact on the natural environment.  This is truly a turning point in human history.  Let's make it a good one.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The Problem, and How to Start to Solve It

The Ehrlichs have been working in the ecological arena for decades.  I first read some of their written work in about 1970.  Ever since then, I've greatly respected their scientific acuity and promotion of caring stewardship regarding Earth.

Here's a recent, short essay of theirs---

https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/the-fallacy-of-back-to-normal-thinking-anne-and-paul-ehrlich/

If we are to continue the responsible, organized existence of human beings on Spaceship Earth, then the Powers-That-Be in developed democratic countries (in particular) need to heed the call expressed in the piece above.
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Not only my opinion.  Stay Well

Introduction to Ecological Liberalism

Preface
Neoliberalism may be on its deathbed.  The ideology began in the late 1930's, bloomed in the 1970's and 1980's, and essentially has ruled the economics, finance, & politics of the developed world ever since.  COVID-19 (SARS-2) has dealt it a blow from which (hopefully) it may never recover.

What will replace it?  Here's some insight---
https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/coronavirus-spells-the-end-of-the-neoliberal-era-whats-next/
https://www.ehn.org/pandemic-population-covid-19-2645518249.html
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For years I wrote (on another blog) about the disastrous effects of Neoliberalism.  Here's the final essay---
http://individualsovereignty.blogspot.com/2020/05/neoliberalism-has-ruled-for-decades-is.html
With this new blog, it's my intention to provide resources enabling open-minded people to educate and inspire themselves (& hopefully, others) on a path forward.

We'll explore subjects which are both social and scientific.  Because politics has become so polarized in this Land, we'll stay away from that topic to a large degree.  It won't be possible to avoid it entirely.

We'll take it as a given that readers here have a basic Main Street knowledge of natural science, common economics, world affairs, and ethics.  Should anyone encounter a term that's unfamiliar (and not defined here), we'll leave it up to them to do a Search for it.  That approach is necessary because of time and energy constraints on me.  😊

Here's a very brief introduction to Ecological Liberalism---

1.  Liberalism is a moral/ethical philosophy and ideology based on the tenets of liberty, consent of the governed, equality before the Law, and tolerance.  Different forms of the belief sometimes depart from one or more of those tenets.  Despite that, the general definition is valid.

2.  Ecology is the branch of Biology which studies the relationships of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.  It's essentially the study of ecosystems (to be defined/discussed in a later post).  There are many sub-branches of Ecology, e.g., wetlands ecology, grasslands ecology, desert ecology, Human Ecology, etc.

Significant parts of Ecological Liberalism have been in existence for decades.  To my knowledge, though, those parts never have coalesced into a unified, single ideology.  [If I'm in error, someone please correct me.]  One of the major parts is Ecological Economics, which has been around for over thirty years.  That will be discussed in depth later.  A group similar to Ecological Economists refers to itself as Environment and Resource Economists.  The noted ecologist, Paul R. Ehrlich, believes the two groups are identical in their principles.  Here's a "fair use" quote from his paper, Key issues for attention from ecological economists:
"Environment and resource economists (hereafter 'ecological economists', which I consider to be an identical group) are the scholars examining the most critical problems that will dominate economics in the twenty-first century.". [Emphasis added.]  From:  https://www.jstor.org/stable/44378980?read-now=1&seq=1

The main components and principles of Ecological Liberalism are:  ecology, economics (including finance), ethics and morality (including spirituality, but not "religion"), and social equity.  This is the best path forward.

In addition to the terms above, future posts here necessarily will explore the following topics:  the biosphere, carrying capacity, biodiversity, unlimited growth, over-consumption, industrial agriculture, corporate globalization, industrial ecology, epidemiological environment, sustainable living, sustainable development, climate disruption, the methane bomb, nuclear problems, food and water problems, ecosystem services, technology, the assault on science, local v. global, ecocentric ideology, the population bomb, the holistic approach, world view, and more.

Because of the current pandemic, the door to serious consideration of alternative views regarding the organization of humanity is wide open.  The massive failure of many institutions (public and private) has become glaringly evident.  A new approach is needed if our species is to survive (& thrive) the many severe problems we now face.  We don't need to throw out the baby with the bath water, but a different path is essential.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well