EcoMatters
  • Homes
    • Home Advice
    • Saving Water
    • Efficient Showerheads
  • Nature
    • Community Nursery
    • Grow My Kai
    • Love The Bush
    • Love Your Food
    • Love Your Neighbourhood
    • Love Your Streams
    • Waitahurangi Wildlink
    • Pest Free Whau
    • The Whau Wildlink
    • Weed Bins
  • Bikes
    • Bike Hubs
    • Flat White Ride Map
    • Pedal Puketāpapa Map
  • Waste
    • Compost Collective
    • E-Waste
    • Recycling Weird Stuff
    • Zero Waste Events
  • Food
    • Love Food Hate Waste
    • Hope Community Garden
  • What’s On
    • Events & Workshops
    • War on Weeds
    • EcoFest West
    • Love Your Place Awards
  • EcoHub
    • EcoHub
    • EcoMatters Store
    • For Schools
    • Site Tours
    • Venue Hire
  • Connect
    • About Us
    • Our Trustees
    • Our Team
    • Blog
    • Internships
    • Job Vacancies
    • Research
    • Team Building
    • Volunteer
    • Contact Us
  • Give
  • Homes
    • Home Advice
    • Saving Water
    • Efficient Showerheads
  • Nature
    • Community Nursery
    • Grow My Kai
    • Love The Bush
    • Love Your Food
    • Love Your Neighbourhood
    • Love Your Streams
    • Waitahurangi Wildlink
    • Pest Free Whau
    • The Whau Wildlink
    • Weed Bins
  • Bikes
    • Bike Hubs
    • Flat White Ride Map
    • Pedal Puketāpapa Map
  • Waste
    • Compost Collective
    • E-Waste
    • Recycling Weird Stuff
    • Zero Waste Events
  • Food
    • Love Food Hate Waste
    • Hope Community Garden
  • What’s On
    • Events & Workshops
    • War on Weeds
    • EcoFest West
    • Love Your Place Awards
  • EcoHub
    • EcoHub
    • EcoMatters Store
    • For Schools
    • Site Tours
    • Venue Hire
  • Connect
    • About Us
    • Our Trustees
    • Our Team
    • Blog
    • Internships
    • Job Vacancies
    • Research
    • Team Building
    • Volunteer
    • Contact Us
  • Give
2 April 2020  |  By Anna Kary In Blog, Community, Environment, Uncategorized

Finding hope in adversity – the unique opportunities of COVID-19

1706 Piha with Dan and girls – 7365 – 2k (1)

EcoMatters CEO Damon Birchfield reflects on what we can learn from the challenges of COVID-19.

What a difference a month makes. In February COVID-19 was a new virus that struck in the little-known Chinese province of Wuhan and looked like it could, perhaps, be contained within Asia. Now we, and a ballooning number of other nations, are under a nationwide lock down – the first in New Zealand’s history. 

The question that’s been occupying me and I’m sure others with an interest in sustainability, perhaps presumptuously given this epidemic containment strategy still has a long way to go, is what can we learn from this COVID-19 disaster?

Watching the world change

My partner and I flew into the United States on February 27 unaware we’d booked a front row seat to witness the last days of relative normality in mega-cities New York and Los Angeles. 

What unfolded was a dramatic lesson in the speed of global change. As people realised the risk the virus presented, the stock market plunged and a week later downtown Manhattan was shut down.

Journalists outside the New York Stock Exchange, reporting as the market falls.

The last two days of our stay in Los Angeles were spent in our hotel room. The restaurants and cafes were empty. Queues lengthened outside supermarkets and people panicked to buy toilet paper and hand sanitiser.

We arrived back in Aotearoa just in time to comply with new border control measures requiring all returning travellers to self-isolate. New Zealand’s borders closed a week later. Since then, we’ve spent two weeks in quarantine and, while I’ve been busy working remotely, life at home has slowed dramatically.

The unexpected upsides of slowing down

Slowing down has benefits, and even unexpected upsides. It feels as though our planet’s environment might be benefitting from such a dramatic reduction in human commercial, industrial and frenetic social activity. Marine life is returning to the canals of Venice. Air pollution in Beijing has subsided and the city reportedly experienced five days of sunshine for the first time in decades. 

Self isolation at home has also kick-started me into gardening again, tackling gorse and pampas grass, sowing vegetable seedlings and, I confess, killing possums – not something I particularly enjoy but, an activity I begrudgingly undertake. Our Timms trap has ensnared six possums in 14 days.  I’m also thinking differently about what constitutes success. I’m counting birds. And I believe, as the possum numbers fall, more birds are hanging out at our place.

There’s time to notice our native birds.
The challenges for our organisation

Two weeks ago we planned to celebrate the launch of our EcoFest West festival. Months of hard work were about to come to fruition. We’d planned more than 100 workshops and events. We postponed the opening event and two days later the Government banned gatherings of more than 100 people.

These last few weeks have been about adaptation and being able to pivot and respond to the daily flow of new information. The pace of change has quickened but the pace of life in self-isolation seems to have slowed.

What I’m learning

My first lesson feels somewhat selfish. I feel lucky to live in this country. The remoteness of the South Pacific can, at times, take a toll but this pandemic reminds us that New Zealand can close its borders and protect itself in unique ways. 

The situation highlights the need for a resilient local food network.

We can, for example, feed almost our entire population. With innovation and application we might even achieve energy independence – but more on what this means another time. 

Responding in new and urgent ways

We’ve learned that our way of life can suddenly and irreversibly change. COVID-19 has forced us to respond to a threat in new and urgent ways. More importantly, we know how to act in an emergency. 

And because we have decisive leadership lives will be saved. Unlike countries like the US and Britain, our leaders have taken a science-based approach to combat this dreadful threat to a potentially large swathe of humanity.

The lesson for our planet’s health

This brings me to the third lesson which, at this stage, is still more a question than an answer. Why have we, and the world generally, not responded in the same decisive and logical way to our climate emergency? Climate change is a far greater threat to humanity than COVID-19. It will, potentially, affect every person on this planet in unimaginably destructive ways. 

The way to counter the climate threat is to repeat what we are doing now including: listening to good and robust science, consciously slowing down, creating and strengthening localised communities of interest and, finding new ways to value our daily life. 

Starting the conversation 

While we navigate our personal self-isolation there is a unique opportunity for all of us to think about what we need to change to better respond to the future threats. 

We can’t predict what the world’s going to look like or how long it’s going to take us to return to some form of normal. On the positive however, we now have plenty of evidence that with the right mind set, we can impact the trajectory of other emergencies such as climate change. We can also be certain that all of our individual actions do add up and can actually make a world of difference.

Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Previous StoryEight events to kick-start your zero waste journey
Next StoryKeeping busy the EcoMatters way

Related Articles

  • EcoFest West 2021 Hero Image Landscape (1)
    Introducing the event categories for EcoFest West 2021
  • 1708 Steiner School Planting Simon – 0931 – 975×650
    Film festival fundraiser helps continue environmental work

Latest Posts

  • EcoFest West 2021 Hero Image Landscape (1)
    Introducing the event categories for EcoFest West 2021 Friday, 26, Feb
  • 1708 Steiner School Planting Simon – 0931 – 975×650
    Film festival fundraiser helps continue environmental work Wednesday, 25, Nov
  • LFHW impact story Bindi 6M2A9367
    Learning goes hand in hand with teaching for family Monday, 27, Jul
  • DSC_0095_Web
    Thousands of vege seedlings to help Aucklanders grow their own kai Thursday, 18, Jun
  • Thoughts on Gardening with Young Kids - a video blog
    Thoughts on Gardening with Young Kids Tuesday, 19, May

Categories

Tags

  • annual report
  • Ark in the Park
  • bokashi
  • bushwalks
  • CO.STARTERS for Causes
  • community
  • community solutions
  • covid-19
  • culture
  • demand management
  • development
  • diet
  • ecoday
  • EcoFestWest
  • EcoWest Festival
  • food
  • food education
  • fundraising
  • gardening
  • global
  • green lifestyles
  • growing
  • health
  • healthy living
  • heating
  • how to
  • Japan
  • Kauri
  • local food
  • lockdown
  • Love Zero Waste
  • Maienza
  • Make
  • Natto
  • natural cleaner
  • NZ bush
  • organic
  • plant food
  • probiotics
  • salad greens
  • seedlings
  • sustainability
  • sustainable living
  • The Living Tree Company
  • waitakere ranges
  • water conservation
  • water efficiency
  • waterways
  • wellbeing
  • winter
  • workshop

Archives

  • February 2021
  • November 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • December 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • September 2015

FIND US ELSEWHERE

ECOHUB & STORE

1 Olympic Place, New Lynn
OPEN: Wed-Sun, 10am-2pm

RESOURCE RECOVERY DEPOT

Unit E, 489 Rosebank Road, Avondale
OPEN: Mon 10am-2pm and Tues 9am-1pm

BIKE HUBS

NEW LYNN: 1 Olympic Place
OPEN: Thurs-Sun, 10am-2pm
HENDERSON: The Falls carpark, 22 Alderman Drive
OPEN: Fri-Sun, 10am-4pm
GLEN INNES: Maybury Reserve, off Taniwha Street
OPEN: Thurs-Sun, 10am-2pm

Donate Now

Volunteer

NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP

Sign up to our newsletter to be kept up-to-date with EcoMatters news & events

Subscribe Now

© EcoMatters Environment Trust 2019

Download the programme

Newsletter Sign-up