Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

TygrBright

(20,733 posts)
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 12:39 AM Mar 2020

Nature has hit the "reset" button. It must change us. Forever.

This blue marble is only one node in an unthinkably vast network of life-nodes, each one unique and, probably, unfathomable to the others. (I cannot begin to imagine the life of a benthic organism among other benthic organisms...)

Homo sapiens is one species, one manifestation of life in this node, but we have had an outsize impact on the entire node. Anyone who doubts it, look at the air quality measurements over Milan the last two weeks.

Evolution has brought us to a point where our potential to live in dynamic equilibrium in this complex network has greatly outstripped our will to do so. We COULD be forming beneficial, comensal relationships with so much other life on this planet. We COULD be creating communities and networks of communities that support and benefit all members, and make the network of life stronger and more resilient.

Our intelligence, our invention, our altruism and compassion are there. Anyone who has felt the warmth and support of an amazing community experience, anyone who has stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon and watched a full moon rise, anyone who has experienced a surprise encounter with a joyful and welcoming cetacean, anyone who has developed a reverence for the divine diversity of life understands the potential rewards of such an existence.

Instead, we have chosen a distorted, pseudo-Darwinian individualism as the lodestar for human culture. We have prioritized hierarchy over collaboration, competition over cooperation. Our concept of "reward" is defined by two things- power and stuff. Neither of which will ever light up with joy at the sight of us entering a room.

And so we have degraded our planet, damaged its web of life, seriously harmed thousands of other strands in the web, to the extent of unbalancing the fundamental sustenance of all life- our climate, our air, our soil, our ecosystems, our water... everything.

But it's a resilient system. Complex, balanced, interwoven. There are millions of paths of impact for every action and reaction. Like all resilient systems, it has self-repair mechanisms.

And so it has, effectively, hit the "reset" button.

To prevent further damage, we need to go back and change system configuration, or we will get more and more Blue Screens at a faster and faster pace.

If we’re LUCKY, this will change our lives forever. It will make us think about how we look after one another, what we prioritize in shaping our economic structures, how we build a reward system that rebalances to “us” rather than “me”, and even redefining “us”.

We have a chance to change the system config.

If we’re smart, we’ll take it.

And yes, it will change our lives forever.

21 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Nature has hit the "reset" button. It must change us. Forever. (Original Post) TygrBright Mar 2020 OP
Here: emmaverybo Mar 2020 #1
Killing 3% of a population isn't really a reset button. PoliticAverse Mar 2020 #2
What assurances do we have that it will be 3% The_jackalope Mar 2020 #7
None. Igel Mar 2020 #16
1% is still a horrendous death rate. Turin_C3PO Mar 2020 #20
Maybe it will be enough that Nature can take a deep breath. We've been smothering Her. Midnight Writer Mar 2020 #8
That's actually the upper range, if S. Korea's numbers are accurate Warpy Mar 2020 #10
Got to thinking customerserviceguy Mar 2020 #3
If it isn't I'd hate to see what surpasses it. lunatica Mar 2020 #4
Wonderful, tygr, cilla4progress Mar 2020 #5
So many lessons to learn from all this flibbitygiblets Mar 2020 #6
A Letter from the Virus: #LISTEN ornotna Mar 2020 #9
Virus isn't a being that's making any demands. LisaL Mar 2020 #14
Many thanks - well said. GoneOffShore Mar 2020 #11
Diseases have been around since the dawn of life, adapt or die, that is the way of our world Baclava Mar 2020 #12
That's exactly right. LisaL Mar 2020 #13
Obama admin had 1 million people tested within weeks of declaring Swine Flu a national health issue uponit7771 Mar 2020 #15
Notice two announcements. Igel Mar 2020 #17
How did Obama admin get past the regulations? Something is wrong with Trump's story uponit7771 Mar 2020 #19
Some things will change after this, but increased environmentalism won't be one of them Amishman Mar 2020 #18
Call me naive, but I think most people are good. zanana1 Mar 2020 #21

PoliticAverse

(26,366 posts)
2. Killing 3% of a population isn't really a reset button.
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 12:50 AM
Mar 2020

The 1918 influenza pandemic killed 50-100 million people. There were no "blue screens" back then even.

The_jackalope

(1,660 posts)
7. What assurances do we have that it will be 3%
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 01:15 AM
Mar 2020

And while 200 to 300 million deaths may not hit our reset button as a species, it would radically alter global society. We have no way of knowing what the eventual mortality number will be.

The current global mortality rate in resolved cases is 12%. if 50% of the world gets infected, then by the time the smoke clears there could be 400 million deaths. That would definitely set the stock market back a week or two.

Igel

(35,192 posts)
16. None.
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 08:43 AM
Mar 2020

The mortality rate's been downgraded to 1.4%, and a lot of researchers are saying it'll be lower, perhaps under 1%.

Sorry to rain on everybody's parade.

Turin_C3PO

(13,650 posts)
20. 1% is still a horrendous death rate.
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 11:50 AM
Mar 2020

Would you eat an m&m from a pack of 100, if one might kill you? I don’t know about you, but I certainly wouldn’t.

Warpy

(110,908 posts)
10. That's actually the upper range, if S. Korea's numbers are accurate
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 02:56 AM
Mar 2020

They did a fantastic job identifying people with mild cases as well as those who are sick enough to require oxygen and more.

A real reset would be the emergence of something as deadly as smallpox, which had a 30% fatality rate before modern medicine came in.

Most people will get this one and get over it. When enough people have gotten over it, the rate of transmission will slow to a crawl. Since both China and the US botched attempts to contain it early enough by not listening to medical people in time, many of us will get this. All we can do is slow it down by practicing good hygiene.

It's just going to kill a lot of people, most of them old like me. Will people listen to doctors and virologists and public health people when the next and possibly worse one comes along?

Probably not.

customerserviceguy

(25,183 posts)
3. Got to thinking
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 12:52 AM
Mar 2020

this morning about Time magazine's "Person of the Year" cover, put out at the end of the year. Sometimes, it's not a person, it's a thing, like in 1982, it was "The Computer".

It's not necessarily an honor, it is someone or something that has changed the world the most. Is there any doubt that this year it will be the coronavirus COVID-19?

cilla4progress

(24,587 posts)
5. Wonderful, tygr,
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 12:59 AM
Mar 2020

I think there is a definite connection to the climate crisis.

Also in republican response and view - denial and magical thinking.

flibbitygiblets

(7,220 posts)
6. So many lessons to learn from all this
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 01:12 AM
Mar 2020

Environment, trade, safety, preparedness, oversight, messaging, health care. We're all in this together.

ornotna

(10,763 posts)
9. A Letter from the Virus: #LISTEN
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 02:07 AM
Mar 2020




An Imagined Letter from Covid-19 to Humans

Stop. Just stop.
It is no longer a request. It is a mandate.
We will help you.

We will bring the supersonic, high speed merry-go-round to a halt
We will stop
the planes
the trains
the schools
the malls
the meetings
the frenetic, furied rush of illusions and “obligations” that keep you from hearing our
single and shared beating heart,
the way we breathe together, in unison.
Our obligation is to each other,
As it has always been, even if, even though, you have forgotten.

We will interrupt this broadcast, the endless cacophonous broadcast of divisions and distractions,
to bring you this long-breaking news:
We are not well.
None of us; all of us are suffering.
Last year, the firestorms that scorched the lungs of the earth
did not give you pause.
Nor the typhoons in Africa, China, Japan.
Nor the fevered climates in Japan and India.
You have not been listening.
It is hard to listen when you are so busy all the time, hustling to uphold the comforts and conveniences that scaffold your lives.
But the foundation is giving way,
buckling under the weight of your needs and desires.
We will help you.
We will bring the firestorms to your body
We will bring the fever to your body
We will bring the burning, searing, and flooding to your lungs
that you might hear:
We are not well.

Despite what you might think or feel, we are not the enemy.
We are Messenger. We are Ally. We are a balancing force.
We are asking you:
To stop, to be still, to listen;
To move beyond your individual concerns and consider the concerns of all;
To be with your ignorance, to find your humility, to relinquish your thinking minds and travel deep into the mind of the heart;
To look up into the sky, streaked with fewer planes, and see it, to notice its condition: clear, smoky, smoggy, rainy? How much do you need it to be healthy so that you may also be healthy?
To look at a tree, and see it, to notice its condition: how does its health contribute to the health of the sky, to the air you need to be healthy?
To visit a river, and see it, to notice its condition: clear, clean, murky, polluted? How much do you need it to be healthy so that you may also be healthy? How does its health contribute to the health of the tree, who contributes to the health of the sky, so that you may also be healthy?

Many are afraid now.
Do not demonize your fear, and also, do not let it rule you. Instead, let it speak to you—in your stillness,
listen for its wisdom.
What might it be telling you about what is at work, at issue, at risk, beyond the threats of personal inconvenience and illness?
As the health of a tree, a river, the sky tells you about quality of your own health, what might the quality of your health tell you about the health of the rivers, the trees, the sky, and all of us who share this planet with you?

Stop.
Notice if you are resisting.
Notice what you are resisting.
Ask why.

Stop. Just stop.
Be still.
Listen.
Ask us what we might teach you about illness and healing, about what might be required so that all may be well.
We will help you, if you listen.

-Kristin Flyntz 3.12.2020

LisaL

(44,962 posts)
14. Virus isn't a being that's making any demands.
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 03:54 AM
Mar 2020

It doesn't care for trees or rivers. It needs a host to live. That host for covid is humans.

LisaL

(44,962 posts)
13. That's exactly right.
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 03:48 AM
Mar 2020

We were due for a pandemic. This was written last year.
"A flu pandemic could strike without warning in the coming years, global health experts warn."
https://www.livescience.com/64992-how-flu-becomes-pandemic.html

uponit7771

(90,225 posts)
15. Obama admin had 1 million people tested within weeks of declaring Swine Flu a national health issue
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 04:28 AM
Mar 2020

This is about gross incompetent.people not nature

Igel

(35,192 posts)
17. Notice two announcements.
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 08:53 AM
Mar 2020

The first was that a fast test was developed overseas and announced 2-3 days ago. The second is that a US-produced fast test kit was approved on Friday.

We've had fast test kits for flu for quite a while. That makes it easy to quickly tweak a kit and continue production with the new kit. That's the flu.

Remember, this isn't the flu.

Then there was that pesky government, insisting on approving test kits because of some idea that it had to keep charlatans from making fake kits and that there was quality control (which, of course, the government's contractor botched). If only we didn't have those regulations, we'd probably have had decent kits by early January, instead of the first non-government kit being approved on 2/26. Even the kit approved on Friday spent a couple of weeks tied up in red tape.

Amishman

(5,540 posts)
18. Some things will change after this, but increased environmentalism won't be one of them
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 09:50 AM
Mar 2020

The only potential changes I see long term are increased emphasis on healthcare capacity and unemployment support.

zanana1

(6,085 posts)
21. Call me naive, but I think most people are good.
Sun Mar 22, 2020, 11:58 AM
Mar 2020

It is through these people that we will get through this. People are sharing more than ever. There are simply acts of kindness everywhere. We're checking up on people more, especially seniors.
We can save our energy by not criticizing people who have different coping skills.
Our creativity is already growing. People are making masks for health workers. We're actually coming up with alternatives to toilet paper!
Sure, there are people who are trying to profit from this virus, but as people begin to be more positive, the number of these people will drop.
I'm 68 and I've seen a lot of shit. I survived it all and I know we'll survive this.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Nature has hit the "reset...