COVID-19

Culture vs. Coronavirus

Tatum Eames COVID-19
Culture vs. Coronavirus

The tenth installment of a blog series of 13 sharing art, articles, and abstract ideas that spark a contagious conversation.

There have been over 360,000 deaths globally from the coronavirus. The United States has one of the highest death counts at just over 100,000. The next highest death tally? Brazil. The Southern American country has an estimated 2,000 coronavirus cases per million people. The most populated country in the world, India, has confirmed 4,500 deaths from coronavirus. Shouldn’t the places with the most people be contributing to the global death count the most? Why is it that places like the United States and Brazil are being hit so hard by the pandemic while places like Denmark have less than 600 total deaths? Could it be that cultural differences account for these disparities more than healthcare access, GDP, or even local government? This week’s blog posts will be exploring how culture impacts the effects of coronavirus. 

People in Brazil wearing masks while waiting in line. Photo courtesy of teletrader.com

Brazil was a colony of Portugal for over three centuries. Brazil inherited a highly traditional and stratified class structure from its colonial period with deep inequality. In recent decades, the emergence of a large middle class has contributed to increase social mobility and alleviated income disparity, but the situation remains grave. Brazil ranks 54th among world countries by Gini index.

Since 2017 the culture in Brazil has shifted. Their politics have slanted more and more to the right, and the United States has become a conservative icon under the Trump administration. This self-described “conservative revolution” some may argue has contributed to some positive changes since new President Bolsonaro took office. These include a greater openness to trade, skepticism of China and reforms that shrank Brazil’s bloated state and made life easier for small businesses. In recent weeks, even as the World Health Organization called South America a “new epicenter” of COVID-19 and the overall death toll in Brazil passed 20,000, Bolsonaro supporters were sharing Twitter memes of anti-social distancing protests in places such as Michigan, and using distinctly American language about “personal liberties” to call for a return to normalcy. Brazilian media have documented how, each time Bolsonaro downplays the virus on TV, social distancing rates slip further. In a country that invests a far lower share of its gross domestic product in health care than the United States, and where people live cheek-by-jowl in places such as Rio de Janeiro, the effect has been disastrous.

A person in New Delhi getting tested for COVID-19. Image from bbc.com

In March, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced one of the strictest lockdowns in the world with hours’ notice at a time when the country had a little over 500 recorded cases. Staying indoors for 21 days would be necessary to “break the chain of infection,” he said, expressing confidence that India would “emerge victorious.” Government officials have highlighted the fact that India’s death toll remains comparatively limited, with about 4,300 deaths recorded so far and a mortality rate of 2.9 percent. In the United States, that figure is 5.9 percent.

Mette Frederiksen
Image form EPA

In Denmark, culture can be described by these three aspects of Danish life: simplicity, politeness, and equality. Mette Frederiksen, the Prime Minister of Denmark,  took office on 27 June 2019. She belongs to a minority government consisting of the Social Democrats. It relies on parliamentary support from the Red–Green Alliance, the Socialist People’s Party, and the Social Liberal Party. This socialist mindset may be connected to the control the country has been able to have on the coronavirus. So far, 83% of people diagnosed with the virus in Denmark have recovered, according to health authorities. Of those who have died, 87% were above the age of 70. Denmark, the first country in Europe to gradually start reopening, reported no coronavirus-related deaths on Friday from the day earlier for the first time since March 13. Denmark’s total number of confirmed cases rose by 78 to 10,791 since Thursday, with the number of hospitalizations falling by 10 to 137. While the amount of deaths is Denmark is proportional to the their population, just like Brazil, the key difference between the two countries is the projected deaths. In Denmark, the death toll remained unchanged at 568. In Brazil, people are expected to die at an increased rate.

Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro meeting in Washington, DC. Phote from usatoday.com

Could it be that more conservative, right-wing, capitalist societies are suffering from more coronavirus deaths? Are the individualist cultures contributing to the lack of social support in some countries? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. 

Be sure to vist these links for more information:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/05/27/brazil-counts-almost-twice-as-many-daily-covid-19-deaths-as-the-us/#4a4d0de5610b

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-coronavirus-lockdown-lifting/2020/05/26/8bffbf42-9951-11ea-ad79-eef7cd734641_story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/28/copying-us-is-leading-brazil-disaster-covid-19/

Written by Tatum Eames, Western Washington University Senior and Climate Justice Now Intern.

Community Spotlight: Bellingham, WA

Tatum Eames COVID-19, Uncategorized
Community Spotlight: Bellingham, WA

The ninth installment of a blog series of 13 sharing art, articles, and abstract ideas that spark a contagious conversation.

Bellingham City Council

Nestled between the Puget Sound and the Canadian boarder lives a quiet town, known for its “subdued excitement” and outdoor lifestyle. Faced with a pandemic, the newly elected city Mayor has been scrambling to protect the health of the city and fulfill his campaign promises. Bellingham, Washington had its first confirmed case of COVID-19 March, 11th 2020. It has followed state orders to shut down all non-essential businesses, and maintain social distancing mandates. The city has also taken an aggressive stance on climate protection. Their ambition is to have greenhouse gas emissions down 100% by the year 2030, as discussed in the 2019 Climate Action Task Force Final Report. Mayor Seth Fleetwood agreed to participate in an email interview for this blog series, highlighting the connections between community, climate, and COVID-19. His responses are below:

Six Strategies – 2018

Q: Please describe the Bellingham community in 5 words or less. 

A great place to live.

 Q: How, if at all, has this changed since the COVID-19 pandemic?

It hasn’t changed. It’s still a great place to live.


Q:Is there any cross over in the people who are making decisions about Bellinghams COVID-19 response and the climate crisis response?

Yes. Local government leaders make up the policy making body in charge of the Whatcom Unified Command, the body charged with direct COVID-19 emergency response, and these are the same people who get to develop policy related to how we respond to the climate crisis locally.

Q:What is the biggest impact you see COVID-19 having on the Bellingham community? What about the climate crisis?

It’s making us better, ironically. We are forming deeper relationships and working together more closely than we ever have to solve problems. I am hoping that attitude of improved collaborative problem solving continues after the crisis ends.
 
That is a huge question with numerous angles and considerations but since you asked me for what I think is the “biggest impact” I will venture an answer. I think the biggest impact will be a future with dramatically increased populations in the Pacific Northwest region as it becomes seen as a comparatively better climate in which to live compared to the Southeast, Midwest and Southwest all of which will get increasingly and unbearably hot. This phenomenon will require us to create a sustainable, socially just future city that accommodates a dramatically larger population. Urban design will be enormously important. As one MIT Design Professor said “the best way to predict the future is to invent it.” If done well it could be very exciting. Save the cities, save the world.

Q: What collective action strategies are the most effective during times of crisis?

Respectful communication.


Q:Why?

Because collective action requires organization and execution and that only happens with agreements that grow out of respectful communication in group dynamics.


Q: Are there any “best practices” that the city of Bellingham follows when navigating a crisis?

Formation of working groups to concentrate on a given problem. We have the capacity to solve all the problems we face when we reach broad agreements on a course of action.  It gives me hope.

City of Bellingham, WA.

So, there you have it folks. The city of Bellingham will continue to do what is best for the health and safety of its community. For more information please visit https://www.cob.org/.

Written by Tatum Eames, Western Washington University Senior and Climate Justice Now Intern.

Common Ground Continued

Tatum Eames COVID-19 ,
Common Ground Continued

The fifth installment of a blog series of 13 sharing art, articles, and abstract ideas that spark a contagious conversation.

This week we have been analyzing the common ground between COVID-19 and the climate crisis. There are many, many parallels between the two situations, but this post is going to dive deeply into perhaps one of the most catastrophic similarities: the communities most impacted.

It is no secret that minority communities tend to have less access to fresh food, safe water sources, clean living environments, libraries, and other social goods. It is also no secret that minority communities tend to have more challenges with health. These are connected phenomenons – and the evidence has become ever clearer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Images courtesy of Aljazeera/”The Stream”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released preliminary data on coronavirus cases broken down by race and ethnicity as provided by state health departments. But 78 percent of the data were missing details on race and ethnicity as of April 15, the report said. “In small metro areas as well as rural areas, we’re seeing disproportionately higher COVID-19 deaths taking place in primarily black counties,” said Gregorio Millett, a lead investigator on the study and amFar vice president. The study also found that the disproportionately black counties ravaged by coronavirus cases and deaths showed high levels of underlying conditions like heart disease, hypertension and diabetes.

The EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment released a study indicating that people of color are much more likely to live near polluters and breathe polluted air. Specifically, the study finds that people in poverty are exposed to more fine particulate matter than people living above poverty. According to the study’s authors, “results at national, state, and county scales all indicate that non-whites tend to be burdened disproportionately to Whites.”

Particulate matter was named a known definite carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and it’s been named by the EPA as a contributor to several lung conditions, heart attacks, and possible premature deaths. The pollutant has been implicated in both asthma prevalence and severity, low birth weights, and high blood pressure.

(Tracy Loeffelholz Dunn / The Nation. Shutterstock images from Lorelyn Medina, Agusto Cabral)

As the study details, previous works have also linked disproportionate exposure to particulate matter and America’s racial geography. A 2016 study in Environment International found that long-term exposure to the pollutant is associated with racial segregation, with more highly segregated areas suffering higher levels of exposure. A 2012 article in Environmental Health Perspectives found that overall levels of particulate matter exposure for people of color were higher than those for white people. That article also provided a breakdown of just what kinds of particulate matter counts in the exposures. It found that while differences in overall particulate matter by race were significant, differences for some key particles were immense. For example, Hispanics faced rates of chlorine exposure that are more than double those of whites. Chronic chlorine inhalation is known for degrading cardiac function.

The links between health and environment are strong. When it comes to seeing the common ground connecting the coronavirus to our climate crisis, this becomes abundantly clear.

Written by Tatum Eames, Western Washington University Senior and Climate Justice Now Intern.

Common Ground: COVID-19 and Climate Crisis

Tatum Eames COVID-19 , ,
Common Ground: COVID-19 and Climate Crisis

The forth installment of a blog series sharing art, articles, and abstract ideas that spark a contagious conversation.

These days every headline we see is about the latest coronavirus statistics, the government responses, and the newest hot spots. It seems random, arbitrary, and impossible to track the path of this thing. But what if our environmental conditions have left some populations more vulnerable to the virus than others? What if the destruction caused by COVID-19 is foreshadowing the destruction yet to come? In this blog, we’ll be discussing the common ground between this current pandemic and the climate crisis. Prepare for some eerie parallels.

WIRED contributor Gilad Eleman’s article titled, “The Analogy Between Covid-19 and Climate Change Is Eerily Precise” is the first post that comes up when you Google search the connection between climate change and COVID-19. He writes that the public response to our current pandemic is simply a time-lapsed version of the public’s response to climate change.

“We went through the stages of climate change denial in the matter of a week,” said Gordon Pennycook, a psychologist at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada, who studies how misinformation spreads. Naomi Oreskes, a historian of science who has studied the origins of climate disinformation, spelled out the pattern in an email: “First, one denies the problem, then one denies its severity, and then one says it is too difficult or expensive to fix, and/or that the proposed solution threatens our freedom.” Sound familiar?

 Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash 

Now we’re faced with the threat of another global catastrophe arising from the clash of nature and modern human activity. As with climate change, the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic are difficult to predict with confidence. As with climate change, the uncertainty interval encompasses utter cataclysm. As with climate change, any serious effort to mitigate or stave off this disaster will require major economic disruptions. And, as with climate change, such efforts to save the world must be put in place before any of the experts’ doomsday warnings could ever be proved true.

Cartoon by Mike Luckovich

Gilead Eleman’s WIRED article concludes with this: “The climate change issue has been transformed into a badge of who people think they are,” said Roger Pielke Jr., a political scientist and environmental studies professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. “So if you’re a good card-carrying Republican in the Midwest, then you’d better be against that climate change stuff. And if you’re a West Coast liberal, or you live in Boulder, like me, of course you support fighting climate change.” When scientific questions become political issues, he added, people’s beliefs become statements of identity. “To some extent we see that with the coronavirus.”

The common ground between these two issues is more extensive than most assume. By the time people are ready to take radical change, it will be too late. The economic costs are too severe to endure. Identity politics are getting in the way of scientic facts.

Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments of you see more common ground between COVID-19 and the climate crisis.

Written by Tatum Eames, Western Washington University Senior and Climate Justice Now Intern.

Earth Day Isn’t Cancelled

Tatum Eames COVID-19, Uncategorized
Earth Day Isn’t Cancelled

The first blog in a series of 13 sharing art, articles, and abstract ideas that spark a contagious conversation.

Students at Nipher Junior High School on 4/22/1970 protesting against smog caused by automobiles. The demonstration was in connection with the observance of the first Earth Day. Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

Each year on the 22nd of April, people of all backgrounds, places, and spaces come together to celebrate the one thing that unifies us: Earth. The first Earth Day led 20 million people to flood streets and participate in teach-ins as the birth of the modern environmental movement took place. Fifty years later, Earth Day looks a little different. It’s relevancy, however, is sustained by a call to address the most crucial threat of our time – climate change. In 1970, this call was answered by a massive march, a new holiday, and sign making. Today, it is answered in digital action and creative problem solving.

Earth Day was born during the ’60s. Think civil rights, the Vietnam War and women’s liberation igniting pandemonium in the country, contrasting the submissive tone of the decade before. Born from a time of chaos and now being celebrated in another one, the last 50 years of Earth Days have seen it all. Now, the fight for a clean environment continues with increasing urgency, as the ravages of climate change become more and more apparent every day. On the celebration of the first ever Earth Day, activists wore face masks to protest the unhealthy air quality and pollution. Now, with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommending we all wear face masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, it is hard not to draw parallels. The fights against the coronavirus and the climate crisis go hand-in-hand and as we work to flatten the curve of this pandemic, we must also strive toward the longer term goal of building a society rooted in sustainability and justice.


Children protest in New York City for the first Earth Day celebration in 1970. Image by Santi Visalli/Getty Images

Environmental activists were radical. They were loud, creative, gutsy-demanding action and gaining momentum quickly. Their methods paid off, and Earth Day helped set the agenda for some of the first national environmental legislation, including the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. The social and cultural environments we saw in 1970 are rising up again today — a fresh and frustrated generation of young people are refusing to settle for staleness and organizing by the millions. Digital platforms and social media are bringing these conversations, protests, strikes and mobilizations to a global audience, especially now, uniting a concerned citizenry as never before and energizing generations to join together to take on the greatest challenge that modern humankind has faced. 

Cartoon by Paresh Nath. Nath is the chief cartoonist for India’s National Herald, and his cartoons are syndicated in the United States by Cagle Cartoons.

For many, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day serves as both a reminder of accomplishments since the 1970’s and what is left to be done. This year’s celebration may seem odd, irrelevant, or even lack luster, but now more than ever we must remember the origins of Earth Day. We must stand unified in the fight for a better future, and get creative in solving our biggest problems.

You can celebrate this year by participating in a three day Earth Day Live celebration. For a schedule of events, hosts, and activities visit https://www.earthdaylive2020.org/. For more history of Earth Day and a 24 hour 50th Anniversary Livestream Event, visit https://www.earthday.org/.

Written by Tatum Eames, Western Washington University Senior and Climate Justice Now Intern.