Yesterday we raked the front lawn except in the area where there is still snow which is close to the house. Today we will rake the top of the back yard; it is still too wet to go further back than that. It is nice to be outside again enjoying the fresh air. It was warm enough to sit on the garden swing for half of an hour. I have also finally noticed that I did not do the Blake Newsletter so will try to do that today.
I haven't done a coronoavirus update for a while and Canada has 17,883 cases with 381 deaths and 4,050 recovered. Globally there are 1,447,466 cases with 83,471 deaths and 308,215 recovered. I noted yesterday that Finland is going to start to test for the present of COVID-19 antibodies and that is such a good idea. I hope that we soon to do that here. Testing for COVID-19 is helpful but much more helpful is discovering how many people have built up antibodies again COVID-19 since many people could have had the disease without symptoms. That is the really important number when we are looking back at COVID-19's first run through the global population. The greater percentage of people who test positive for the presence of COVID-19 antibodies the more likely we can start up our economy again and have the children return to school.
Starting up the economy again though does bring the thought to mind that we could now, with all of the G-7 economies shut down consider the idea of controlling pollution before starting up once again. Get rid of those heavily polluting items like too many cars on the road and really push public transportation especially in big cities. There are whole new industries that could be created out of such changes. Managed parking buildings far from the city centre but close to people's homes in urban areas. Along with that stores that cater to people coming off of those trains and wanting to pick up items quickly from drug stores, restaurants, clothing stores and novelty stores. We need to rethink how we live to ensure that we are living in harmony with nature not grating up against nature.
There is a huge market for plastics in our lives. They are easy to clean and sterilize and can function as so many items. We do not have to worry about oil disappearing anytime soon. But getting those cars off of the large city streets would be such a boon to the environment and people's health.
Since I live in a large urban area near a large city with light rail soon to be available, I can see a lot of pluses in revising how people live so that we are in harmony with the world. The birds are finally back and in greater abundance it would appear. The great harbinger of spring, the Canada Goose, is winging its way to the north and their nesting grounds. Their honking fills the skies and lifts the heart. They have survived another harrowing migration south and then north again.
But living where I do in a large city area surrounded by trees our particular city is not heavily polluted although it is the capital city of Canada. Driving through Toronto on a hot summer day is not a pleasant experience and it really can not get better without drastic change. Everyone who immigrates here wants to live in the big cities - Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. All they do is add to this problem of pollution. Most of Canada outside of the cities is farming of one kind or another and where it is not that then it is tundra covered by snow for six to eight months of the year. But even these areas suffer from acid rain because of the industrialization that exists on the North American continent.
Must get back to work; want to work on Chromosome 2 today. In the years ahead when I may look back on this time period, it will be interesting to see what I wrote about COVID-19. I remember what my relatives said about the Spanish Flu which had been 30 years earlier when I was a young child. Dubious that I will be thinking back from 30 years hence at my age of 74 years but I guess what I write down might still be in my files!
I was looking back at my couple of posts during the NAFTA negotiations and actually suggested that if they failed then we would get back to making our own things and it would be a boon for our economy. Weird really that I wrote that at that time as indeed making our own things may dictate our survival through all of this pandemic!
No comments:
Post a Comment