Some of us have been terribly affected by COVID-19, losing lives or livelihoods, while some have been luckier. But we’re all ready to get back to normal, right? Wrong. Even in the midst of the pandemic, only 9%[1]of people surveyed wanted to get back to normal. Nine percent.
The pandemic has laid bare just how deeply, deeply flawed “normal” was. Therefore, it’s only natural that people are saying: We’re not going back. No way we’re going back.
If there’s one thing this pandemic has done, it is to show all of us the fallacy of economy over ecology. The natural world still owns us, as a tiny microbe has made clear.
There are numerous initiatives addressing this, with detailed rationales for abandoning the past, and thorough roadmaps for what a sustainable and equitable future should be. Things like Build Back Better, which originated as a U.N. post-disaster roadmap, has now been adapted to dealing with the aftermath of the pandemic.
The Club of Rome has also been hammering away at this (for years), and Emerge from Emergency is gaining traction, outlining “a green, circular economy that is anchored in nature-based solutions and geared toward the public good.”[2]
And yet, for all this good work, without some sort of dramatic shift to get these changes adopted, the forces that got us here are likely to drag us back.
I was pondering this when someone on our team sent me this note:
Hey Daniel,
What about getting a bunch of global companies and global local governments together to actually commit to immediate massive changes? To sign a document binding them to something big, bigger than they ever thought possible, a huge, honking enormous, tremendous, and hairy something that screams: No way we’re coming out of COVID-19 and going back to Business-as-Usual! We’re going BIG and we’re going Now!
Call it the “COVID Covenant.”
Okay. Wow. Okay.
So, I brought it up over virtual drinks next day, with friends who are steeped in sustainability.
Some of those folks are themselves involved in other current initiatives. All of them liked the idea of something concrete. A promise, a set-in-stone agreement, a covenant if you will, and that is what we’ve been developing.
We chewed over the idea and began to hammer out a document outlining this new commitment. While it started with us, we knew it couldn’t be a Valutus thing, or anyone’s thing. It had to be bigger than all of us, it had to belong to all who want to go BIG.
We’re still looking for more input, but be clear that radical ideas are the currency of this project. Everything is on the table. Everything, that is, except inaction, ‘predatory delay,’[3] and failure.
The COVID Covenant: Go Big, Go NOW!
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world that we are far more vulnerable, unequal, and deeply connected than we realized. Yet it has also proven we can act at speeds, scales, scopes, and levels of coordination and financial commitment we didn’t believe possible.
Now we must now apply the same level of speed, coordination, and courage to tackling the other critical issues we face: the climate crisis, inequality, racism, health care, and more.
The COVID Covenant is an iron-clad commitment to make this happen – to make the impossible possible. We’re not going back, we’re going BIG. Right now!
[ Click HERE for a 3-minute overview video ]
The COVID Covenant: for Individuals
I will fulfill this commitment by going Big on the following things:
[Climate & Sustainability / Health / Justice / Other]
- ________________________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________________________
and I will advocate for others to do the same.
The COVID Covenant: for Organizations
I will fulfill this commitment by going Big on the following things:
[Climate & Sustainability / Health / Justice / Other]
- ________________________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________________________
and I will advocate for others to do the same.
Signature: ______________________ Organization: _________________
Position: ______________________
*[Note: the above may include funding, resource support, and advocacy]
To sign the Covenant, go to valutus.com/covid-covenant
_________
References:
[1] Sky News, Coronavirus: Only 9% of Britons want Life to Return to ‘Normal’ Once Lockdown is Over,April 17, 2020
[2] Project Syndicate, A Green Reboot After the Pandemic, Dixon-Declève, S., Lovins, H., Schellnhuber, H.J., Răorth, K. Mar 24, 2020
[3] Alex Steffen, predatory delay, via Tweet, Aug 28, 2017