I don’t want a new normal. There was little about the ‘normal’ prior to COVID-19 that was sustainable and clearly our recent global crisis has exposed the increasing inequality across people and places. Nature does not always grow yet it sustains itself. I watched the bamboo in my pot this morning out on the patio. It is thriving and stable yet flexible as it bends in the wind providing a much-needed microhabitat for the bluetits. If I planted it in the garden, or re-potted it, no doubt it would grow on further.
But for now, it has reached its limit of what sustainable growth looks like. Sustainability has been unhelpfully linked to growth when sustainability could be more positively linked to stability and flexibility. I think there are many emerging lessons from COVID-19, including:
- Flexibility and stability are our friends – we need to respond to change yet staying true to our values.
- Positive local action, when considered in the context of shared global challenges, can and should grow exponentially.
- Local places and locally distributed products and services are favoured over global supply chains and long-distance travel – it is good for people, places, economies and the environment
- Smaller independent social businesses serving our communities thrive
- Pedestrians and cyclists come first, cars have to give way in more ways than one.
- We look out for each other – its what we do here.
Neil Mapes is Manager of Green Hive, a small charity based in Nairn supporting the local community to take positive action to address global environmental challenges and bring about happier people and happier places in Nairnshire.