#057 Choosing a Better Normal Out of COVID-19
With global health systems expert Alanna Shaikh
Alanna Shaikh is a global health systems expert. She delivered a TEDx talk barely two weeks ago which has been viewed almost seven million times already across its TED and YouTube sites. On the latter it is titled ‘Coronavirus is our future’. But as much as outlining why that is so, a legacy of the human-induced planetary degradation that has brought COVID-19 upon us, it’s about how we can create a different future.
“Public health people, we’ve been talking to each other about the fact that in so many ways it’s felt like COVID-19 is the climate crisis at high speed. That we saw it coming, we knew it was happening, we knew there were mitigation measures, and yet somehow until things were on fire in your own backyard, nobody was really talking about it or taking action. ”
How can we learn from the wake-up call of this outbreak, to create a more responsive and universal global health system? A system where, as Alanna puts it, equity is our social immune system.
Bill Gates has written that such a health system will cost billions, and that’d be a bargain. The same can be said for the broader systems restoration project, where ecosystem restoration is key, and related systems of food, agriculture, economics, education and media all play vital roles.
The coronavirus, and the future ones we’re currently headed for, are notably symptomatic of the same patterns underlying biodiversity loss, economic volatility and climate disruption. “Coronavirus is our climate crisis at high speed”, Alanna says.
So we’ve got a moment here, while doing our belated but inspired best to withstand our current crisis, where we can get at the roots of it all, and re-orient our societies towards a new and better normal.
Title slide: at TEDxSMU, by Kim Leeson.
With thanks to our friends at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance for bringing Alanna's TEDx talk to our attention.
Get more:
Alanna’s blog This World Needs Brave.
Alanna’s consultancy Tomorrow Global.
Coronavirus is our Future TEDx talk.
Music:
Due to licencing restrictions, our guest’s nominated music can only be played on radio or similarly licenced broadcasts of this episode.