what is going on in the world?

[Peter M Haas]

Has anyone got any suggested feeds that cover all the other issues that we used to study?  Has the media become corona obsessive, or have governments and other actors stopped business as usual? 

I regularly follow the FT, NYT, WP, FP, and nada.

 

Peter M Haas

Professor & Graduate Program Director

514  Thompson Hall

Department of Political Science

UMASS Amherst

Amherst MA  01003

 

 

[Pam Chasek]

Dear Peter:

There is a lot of discussion climate change issues, as always. Other MEA twitter feeds are tweeting out content. 

Otherwise, much is on hold. Here's what's going on in my world: http://sdg.iisd.org/news/covid-19-pandemic-disrupts-un-meeting-plans-around-the-world/

Pam

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Pamela Chasek, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Political Science Department
Manhattan College

4513 Manhattan College Parkway
Riverdale, NY 10471 USA

Phone: +1-718-862-7248
Fax: +1-718-862-8044

pamela...@manhattan.edu
www.manhattan.edu

 

 

 

[Wendy Jackson]

To answer your second question, I think it depends on the government department in question. I work for a foreign ministry (NZ), and almost all hands are on deck for COVID-19 response. Most countries are having massive consular emergencies, trying to get nationals back home, responding to questions from in-country non-nationals, navigating all of the border complexities (think of people transiting countries, families with mixed residency status, etc.). I cannot speak for all governments, but here this effort is requiring resource from across the business. This has an impact on all work being done; we have people backfilling, and backfilling the backfilling, but some work is indefinitely postponed. Every govt department will be affected in its own way (sorting economic packages for business; dealing with tourists who are still here; sorting out school policy; ensuring food and other supply chains are stable; etc.).

I work on a multilateral desk (UN relationship management), and BAU has slowed to a trickle. As Pam noted, UN meetings are being scaled down, postponed, or cancelled. Some processes related to those meetings (e.g., informals, regional consultations) are happening, although at a slower pace. Multilats are also shifting their focus to COVID-19 matters - how this manifests will vary by each agency.

Apologies for writing in haste but hopefully a view from a government is helpful.

Wendy

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[DG Webster]

BBC and al Jazeera are slightly better at tracking other news, but not by much.

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D.G. Webster
Associate Professor
Environmental Studies Program
Dartmouth College
6182 Steele Hall
Hanover, NH 03755
phone: 603-646-0213
http://sites.dartmouth.edu/websterlab

[Pam Chasek]

And for those of you focused on domestic environmental issues:  https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-environment-coronavirus_n_5e755cf7c5b63c3b6490a703?fbclid=IwAR3k--1qKMx-PzdUgqjedVCyrm3aeb2TBTA2v9ahOPp6p456qzrWXy6LYk4

Pam

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[Gernot Wagner]

Indeed plenty of other news still happening -- from locust plagues in East Africa to 65% oil price drops to continued Trumpian shenanigans.

All that said, shouldn't Covid refocus the sort of stuff we are, in fact, following?

I realize all of us experience Covid-19 rather differently -- full disclosure: I'm married to an NYU Langone/Bellevue doc, a place that'll get swamped with thousands of cases in the coming days. But I'd think up to ~30% US unemployment this quarter, ~50% quarterly GDP drop, etc. etc. -- to say nothing of, well, people dying -- would surely change what we do.

There's the immediate term: None of us should pretend to be epidemiologists -- that's what Twitter is for -- but all of us have some relevant skills. E.g. a couple enviro/natural resource economist colleagues just wrote a paper within a week on critical child care needs of medical staff. Their prior medical/child care expertise: none. They just had the idea and knew how to get and analyze the data.

Then, of course, there's the longer term.

We've all heard the Milton (& Rose!) Friedman quote around how actions taken in a crisis “depend on the ideas that are lying around.” Well, that Friedman quote doesn't go the other way. I trust there'll be plenty of ideas generated B.C. (Before Covid) that will withstand the test of time.

Many won't.

We won't all agree what that means. In fact, I trust very few of us have spent much time on that so far (see: saving lives, now). But e.g. science denial might look rather different A.C., after millions having experienced some of the effects first-hand.

I realize it's easier to teach sunk cost to undergrads than to go through it oneself and purge that multi-year research project, but I'd venture to say that, say, the B.C. results of that perfectly designed cross-country survey on attitudes toward revenue-neutral carbon taxes will feel more like a historical case study A.C.

Gernot Wagner, New York University
gwagner.com
Keep in touch: gwagner.com/#newsletter 

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[Jennifer Allan]

Hi everyone,

There is a media effect here of course. The Conversation UK said no to a pitch I made about holding a virtual COP (a ridiculous idea being floated here in the UK by people that have clearly never been to a COP). Despite this idea being considered in the Guardian and Independent, the Environment Editor said "there's little on climate these days because we're all doing COVID."

Hopefully BAU can start to re-emerge in the coming months. 

Best,

Jen

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[Radoslav Dimitrov]

France24.com is an excellent source of news, impressive in its global scope of coverage and depth of commentary - at least during ‘regular’ times. I find it more comprehensive than the BBC. Available in several languages and free online. There is also a good app.  

     

Best,

Radoslav S. Dimitrov, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Western University
Social Science Centre
London, Ontario
Canada N6A 5C2
Tel. +1(519) 661-2111 ext. 85023

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[Ans Kolk]

This may be of interest too for some of you, copied in below my signature,

The Open Forum: COVID-19 Can Help Wealthier Nations Prepare for a Sustainability Transition

 

Take care everybody!

Ans

 

---

 

Ans Kolk | Full Professor | Amsterdam Business School | University of Amsterdam | Plantage Muidergracht 12, 1018 TV Amsterdam - The Netherlands | E. a.k...@uva.nl | W. www.anskolk.eu

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: strn-m...@googlegroups.com <strn-m...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Cohen, Maurie
Sent: Saturday, 21 March 2020 15:00
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Open Forum: COVID-19 Can Help Wealthier Nations Prepare for a Sustainability Transition

 

Apologies for X-posting; feel free to forward

 

Open Forum: COVID-19 Can Help Wealthier Nations Prepare for a Sustainability Transition

 

Dear Colleagues,

 

Most attention to date regarding COVID-19 has justifiably focused on the public health dimensions of the pandemic which have already been dire in a number of countries and are likely to become more challenging as it continues its march around the world. We extend our deepest sympathy to colleagues on the frontlines of the outbreak, to people who have suffered losses, and to everyone subjected to profound disruption.

 

However, if we look a little further down the road, might there be emerging a window of opportunity to alter the trajectory of global development with respect to consumption and lifestyles, especially in relatively affluent countries?

 

We invite you to join us for an open forum on how the outbreak might contribute to a sustainability transition.

 

When: March 26^th, Thursday, 2020

Japan	Singapore	Amsterdam	London	New York	San Francisco
21:00 (9pm)	20:00 (8pm)	13:00 (1pm)	12:00 (Noon)	8:00 (8am)	5:00 (5am)

 

RSVP here: https://forms.gle/W6nhV576KafenJdZ6

 

As the COVID-19 pandemic touches every aspect of modern society, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the slowdowns and shutdowns may inadvertently enable us to shape a new conception of prosperity and good livelihood. We may even come out of this unfortunate episode with renewed fortitude and commitment to work toward the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. And since we are all living through this unique moment, observing the responses by government, businesses, and ordinary people, it marks an opportune time to explore if these changes can provide leverage points for opening pathways to a sustainability transition.

 

Building from the points discussed in a recent Future Earth blog post (here), we would like to jumpstart a conversation on how COVID-19 could catalyze social changes that enable us to overcome customary routines and business-as-usual patterns of activity. We will see many adjustments—some good and some less so—being implemented in coming weeks and months. What are the opportunities for “locking in” those changes that can contribute to a more prosperous and equitable future.

 

Points of departure for this conversation might include:

 

-Working hours, work itself, and universal basic income

-Downshifting mobility and virtual communication

-Shifts in production technologies and routines (Industry 4.0)

-Restructured supply chains and economic localization

-A return to the fundamentals of home economics and notions of sufficiency

-More!

 

Please let us know if you are interested in joining the conversation by RSVPing here: https://forms.gle/W6nhV576KafenJdZ6

 

Hope to see you online!

 

Maurie Cohen, Joseph Sarkis, Patrick Schroeder, Magnus Bengtsson, Steven McGreevy, and Paul Dewick on behalf of the Future Earth Knowledge-Action Network on Systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production

4513 Manhattan College Parkway
Riverdale, NY 10471 USA

Phone: +1-718-862-7248
Fax: +1-718-862-8044

pamela...@manhattan.edu
www.manhattan.edu

 

 

 

 

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[Jon Marco CHURCH]

Try performing an advanced search on Google News, excluding the words “coronavirus” and “COVID”. It still gets you some coronavirus-related news, but I guess there’s little way around it…

https://news.google.com/search?q=%20when%3A1d%20-%22COVID%22%20-%22COVID-19%22%20-%22coronavirus%22%20-%22Coronavirus%22&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

Otherwise, if you are looking for fake coronavirus news, there are plenty of highly reliable sources… :)

Best,

J.