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Volume 20

By Tue 8 Dec 2020Green European Journals

LIFE UNDER SHOCK: Understanding the Pandemic

Recognising that a pathogen will not bring forth a fairer, more sustainable future but people, ideas and politics can, this edition asks how the health crisis will influence our world in the years to come.

As both an accelerator of existing trends and a moment of rupture, the health crisis and its tragic consequences have radically changed every aspect of social life. The implications of COVID-19 go deep, worsening social inequalities, speeding up disruptive technological change, and exposing a broken relationship with the natural world. From the experience of urban areas to new solidarities such as the notion of essential workers, this edition traces its causes and effects, as well as our response. Spanning loneliness among the elderly, the future of public health, and biodiversity loss, it tracks how the pandemic shines a light on fundamental challenges for the 21st century. While some wish to return to business as usual, putting health over the economy has forced the politics of life and living together out into the open. The task for Greens and progressives is keeping them at the centre of our politics.