By Mireille Church and Carol Harkness, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, March 26, 2020
Mother Earth is sending us a message
Venice is reporting seeing crystal clear waters in its canals, and Beijing is reporting clear blue skies and birdsong. What does that say? One week of quarantine and the planet is breathing better.
We just about all agree that the Earth is sick, choking on the CO2 emissions we are throwing at it from all sides. What if we collectively decided that, once this health crisis is over, we take one day a month, let’s say the 30th of each calendar month, worldwide, to stop everything. Banks, airlines, coffee shops, restaurants, parties, church and gyms, class and work (unless it’s online). We would all stay at home to connect with our family members or play outside locally: biking and hiking, playing catch, throwing a frisbee, shooting baskets with our folks. Or, we could read a book, listen to birds chirping, lock eyes, hold hands.
Mother Earth would be happy her message had been heard.
Maybe intensification isn’t so smart, after all
City of Ottawa politicians and bureaucrats are in favour of – and have been pushing – intensification for years, i.e. cram as many people as possible into a limited space. Perhaps COVID-19 will give them pause and a chance to reconsider a municipal objective that might be flawed.
https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/todays-letters-the-covid-crisis-mother-earth-is-sending-us-a-message/wcm/ef30d01f-fb66-49ae-8580-83f3b508e14e/