Life or Money

You decide.  Don't let the talking heads and politicians decide.
  Do we protect human life or our economy?

We now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to decide this question and spark a tipping point for the future of our human race. 

In the next few weeks we will resurrect our economy.  Any way we do it, it will cost human lives.  We don't yet have a full grasp about what COVID19 can do.  We don't know if asymptomatic people can become symptomatic, we don't know if there are variations of the virus strain, we don't know how rebound cycles may or may not occur.  In other words, it's way too early to expose millions of people to an unknown new virus strain.  

We do know that COVID19  is more deadly than the common flu.  We do know that merely speaking at someone (without a mask) could transmit the virus.  We've finally agreed that face masks are essential in public areas (even I needed a lot of convincing).  



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Since public libraries are closed,  I am rereading old newspapers (I still like the physical, real kind).  I picked up an old (2013)  'Positive News' paper and ran across an article by David Korten  titled: 'What would earth do?'  There was a nice table in there comparing systems (I've added a few):
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.                                                    Wall Street                 Nature
Defining Value                                    Money                        Life

Primary performance indicators        Growth, returns         Abundance, health
                                                     cash flow, assets       resilience, potential
                                                        monoculture                  diversity

Primary dynamic                               Competition               Cooperation
                                                         efficiency                   effectiveness

Decision making power                    Global, top down        Local, bottom up
                                              centralized, concentrated      distributed

Time Frame                                  Immediate returns        Sustained yields

Resource Flows                          Global, linear, one-time    Local, circular, zero
                                                 use, take-make-waste    waste,continuous use

Deficits of concern                             Financial               Social & environmental


There's no looking back for Wall Street - it's all about projections, risk and cash flows tomorrow and this week.  Rarely will a corporation have a business plan that looks out further than 5,10 years and it usually focuses on one or two core competencies.    Nature on the other hand is about life and diversity and could care less about efficiency.  

A classic example from 'Cradle-to-Cradle' is the cherry tree.  It produces a zillion blossoms each spring.  Most of those blossoms fall to the ground and a few yield

some cherries later on.  Is it efficient?  No - such a waste of all those blossoms, since we want cherries.   But it is highly effective.  Those blossoms on the ground are rich in nutrients and will compost into the soil and supply the tree's roots with their nutrients.  This circular cycle can continue indefinitely.  If every single blossom turned into a cherry, where would the tree gets its nutrients from?

We also have an opportunity to change a few things in our global systems.  But who will lead that?  the UN?  the USA? Europe?  china?  who will be the leaders that take a strong stand and insist on these changes:  there's only one possibility - the people.  there's also another possibility (see the end of this blog) 


Instead of this measurement:

maybe we should adopt  one  of these:

There is one leader who rocks:  Pope Frank.  I always joke around that you can't say 'is the pope catholic?' anymore, because Pope Frank has a record of liberal (?) Catholicism.  But as with his climate change and other ecumenical, his Easter message was spot on:

https://www.romereports.com/en/2020/04/12/popes-urbi-et-orbi-message-easter-2020/

here is a small excerpt: 

In these weeks, the lives of millions of people have suddenly changed. For many, remaining at home has been an opportunity to reflect, to withdraw from the frenetic pace of life, stay with loved ones and enjoy their company. For many, though, this is also a time of worry about an uncertain future, about jobs that are at risk and about other consequences of the current crisis. I encourage political leaders to work actively for the common good, to provide the means and resources needed to enable everyone to lead a dignified life and, when circumstances allow, to assist them in resuming their normal daily activities. 

This is not a time for indifference, because the whole world is suffering and needs to be united in facing the pandemic. May the risen Jesus grant hope to all the poor, to those living on the peripheries, to refugees and the homeless. May these, the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters living in the cities and peripheries of every part of the world, not be abandoned. Let us ensure that they do not lack basic necessities (all the more difficult to find now that many businesses are closed) such as medicine and especially the possibility of adequate health care. In light of the present circumstances, may international sanctions be relaxed, since these make it difficult for countries on which they have been imposed to provide adequate support to their citizens, and may all nations be put in a position to meet the greatest needs of the moment through the reduction, if not the forgiveness, of the debt burdening the balance sheets of the poorest nations.