Despite being an ingenious animal that has supposedly found its way to the top of the food chain, humanity is in reality as vulnerable as a coral reef is to a changing climate.
Our survival is based on how we adapt and live in our world and while we like to think we’re in charge, we have only as much control as nature allows.
For some of us, understanding that a microscopic creature that doesn’t even qualify as a living cell can be so deadly and disruptive, is a wake-up call – a reminder that as carbon-based life forms we have only so much power.
There is no doubt we’re a clever animal, the rapid pace involved in finding a vaccine for COVID-19, suggests as much.
But when dealing with the forces of nature there is no place for human contempt or arrogance.
We must work with nature, not the other way around.
This type of general observation seems to have galvanised sentiment surrounding environmental topics such as climate change and health and ‘humanity’ issues – many of them seemingly removed from the pandemic.
While general COVID-19 news has been coming thick and fast into newsrooms, with details about the socio-economic fallout hot on its heels, environmentally based reports are probably next in line.
We can only assume people are thinking more about how and where they fit on nature’s great canvas – about the air they breathe, the water they drink, the food they eat and the other life in which they share the planet.
We’re a curious lot. We watch with interest to see whether the sentiment continues beyond COVID-19.
The entire August 12, 2020 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!