From the “team” here at The Estero Story, we wish you a Happy New Year! 🙂
When it comes to the New Year, a lot of people make New Years resolutions. Dieting, more exercise, and some vague concept of “being healthier” are among the most common.
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This year, I decided I would make it a personal goal to try to start reading more. While over time the details of the why have evolved, my initial motivations were to rekindle some of that childlike wonder I had for books as a kid and to invest in a medium that had more substance to offer than the dozens of YouTube videos I was guzzling; enjoying but not really reaching any point of personal fulfillment or deeper enjoyment out of. It accomplished both and then some. I had heard about people who started reading more and who subsequently felt a substantial change in their life and in how they thought. I thought this was probably hyperbole (like with a lot of things in life), but no — it was actually totally accurate. Regular reading helped expand my worldview and my tools for thought in multiple different ways, beyond just becoming a fun and relaxing activity.
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Cover image taken during the day on September 9th, 2020 in Half Moon Bay, CA. [1]
As tragedy after tragedy flash across the headlines of the news, I find myself stuck in a paralysis. The statement “it is 2020″ and its variants “this is 2020″ and “it’s 2020 after all” all come to mind. For many of us, 2020 has become synonymous with the word crisis taken to an absurdist extreme. It feels like an absurd amount of time has passed since January 1st, or rather that an absurd amount of absurd things have happened. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown and restrictions. The Australian Wildfires, the Impeachment and resultant Acquittal of President Donald Trump, the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant, the conviction of Harvey Weinstein, the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin and subsequent worldwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism, multiple hurricanes striking the Southern US at the same time (Marco and Laura), and now the most destructive fire season in CA in modern history combined with record-breaking heat waves.
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Cover Image is of a Pallid Bat [1]
The initial headlines most of us saw earlier this year probably still ring in our heads: “Novel coronavirus spreads throughout the world”, “COVID-19 pandemic reaches the United States”, “Global stock markets post biggest falls since 2008…”[2], “COVID-19 suspected to originate from a bat in a wet market in Wuhan” and even the infamous “China Virus” statements from the White House administration.
Underneath these headlines lie a number of implicit questions that are all an exploration of “how did this catastrophe happen?” Where did this originate and who is responsible? What could we have done differently and what can we do to prevent the next one? This piece will be an exploration of these questions and a meditation on the themes of blame and prevention in the narratives surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Image: NASA satellite image of the 2018 Camp Fire, currently the most destructive wildfire in California history. Image from https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144225/camp-fire-rages-in-california
If you are usually critical of veganism or feel apathetically hopeless regarding climate change, this is for you. I only ask that you hear me out and give me the benefit of the doubt and read through this piece. I know it is long, but I promise you that it will be worth it and that it could change your perspective on the environmental crisis, the next 30 years, and what you can do.
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