By Rai Chowdhary
Shortly after the market crash of 2008 crash, the CEO of a Fortune 500 leader in chemicals and plastics used to tell us “Never let a crisis go waste.” While I don’t know who said this originally, it resonated with me then, and I am reminded of those words today again.
Not the first time
We have lived through a variety of crises before, and these are bound to happen again. What is surprising is that each time it occurs, we realize we were unprepared. Some may say hindsight is 20/20, but really – think about it. Was it so difficult to foresee that pathogens could easily move across species – particularly when there is close contact?
What did we learn, and will it stick?
As we look forward to a post Corona world, three things definitely stand out, and each of them can teach us valuable lessons:
1 – Weapons could not protect us. The weapon systems we have piled up across the world, including nukes that can wipe out humanity on the planet many times over were of no help
2 – The planet can heal itself given a chance. Nature started to recover from the excesses we have committed – pollution cleared up (see images of Wuhan below), wild life got a chance to move freely, and many learned the value of staying close to family
Source: https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-changes-pollution-over-china.html
3 – Our ability to understand and manage risks is still in its infancy, not only that – almost all of us are particularly prone to herd mentality driven by an amygdala hijack – regardless of education and profession. Rational thought and analysis seemed to vanish in the wake of the dread from Corona.
Now comes the bigger question. Are we teachable? Why do I ask this question? Our history is littered with making the same or similar mistakes repeatedly. Pandemics have happened before, viruses have jumped species, and frauds have been repeatedly committed as well. In this context – what else is happening now – one may ask. China is still building coal-fired power plants. The links below provide further details for those interested. All I can say is…
Do we need a stronger wake-up call from nature?
China building coal-fired power plants even now
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