[LINK] World Virtual Meeting of Mayors “No Return to Business as Usual”

[Stephen Loosley]

Roger writes,

>> “No Return to Business as Usual”  Forty global mayors issue a
>> call for a healthy, equitable and sustainable economic recovery
>
> That seems good in a couple of ways, but not in others.  A check of
> the list by GDP would be good, but not easy.  Here it is by population:
> So it contains only 2 of the largest 10 cities, 3 of the largest 20, 5 of the
> largest 30, 7 of the largest 40 ...
>
> https://www.c40.org/press_releases/taskforce-principles
>
> Statement of Principles: The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted
> the world’s cities. It is not just a global health crisis, but a social and economic
> crisis. In many ways it is also an urban phenomenon.. It is, in part, a consequence
> of the undermining of international mechanisms and institutions which were built
> to bring peace and prosperity to all. It is, in part, a consequence of ignoring science
> based knowledge. We, as leaders of major cities across the globe, are clear that our
> ambition should not be a return to ‘normal’ – our goal is to build a better, more
> sustainable, more resilient and fairer society ..

Great information Roger .. and absolutely on-point. Hope they can expand this group.

Maybe going further it may seem, for many reasons, that governing our civilized world
via local-regions and less by countries, is an idea whose time has come? For eg by cities?

It seems to me that with an increasing numbers of issues society faces, governing whole
countries is becoming simply un-manageable. For instance, Trump has given up, leaving
real management to the states while he plays around the edges. And the only way China
can govern so many is with fear, and citizen-repression. Thus, worldwide, governments
are failing the primary tasks, maybe because there are just too many management tasks.

But our bite-sized cities, all with many of the same problems in common, and also often
beset with much less personal grandstanding can apparently work-in together very well?

Anyway whatever governmental modus-operandi it seems obvious that medical matters
will become much more important. For example, “Arctic warming and microbial threats.”
See https://www.interacademies.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/Arctic_IAP_EASAC.pdf
where-in they state, “A recent EASAC report notes there’s a probability of (re-)emerging
infectious diseases in consequence of pathogen release from thawing permafrost.. there
are implications in uncovering ancient pathogens and infected human / animal remains.”

Our Artic region is basically a frozen petrie dish, full of frozen nasties, awaiting a chance.

For example, “Ninety people are undergoing hospital checks in remote northern Russia
because of an anthrax outbreak that killed a boy on Monday. Eight people are confirmed
as infected with anthrax, a rare but deadly bacterial disease. A spokeswoman told Tass
news agency that about 50 children were among the 90 people in hospital. The officials
believe that heat melted permafrost and exposed an infected reindeer carcass”  (2016)
Also “Arctic ice melting has been linked to phocine virus spreading to the Pacific in seals
and sea otters.”
https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/07/climate-change-unlock-ice-age-bugs-spark-worlds-next-pandemic-12669104/