No doubt reports like the one below inspired the “Earth Day 2020 Report” Dave Granlund depicted in this cartoon for the April 21 edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer:
India is home to 21 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities, but recently air pollution levels have started to drop dramatically as the second-most populated nation endures the second week of a 21-day lockdown amidst coronavirus fears, according to The Weather Channel. …
‘I have not seen such blue skies in Delhi for the past 10 years,’ said Jyoti Pande Lavakare, the co-founder of Indian environmental organization Care for Air.
(EcoWatch, April 2, 2020)
Add to all that good news the fact that the price of crude oil has plummeted so much that, instead of selling it, producers are having to pay to store it. This too seems like an April Fools’ Day joke, no?
But how will mankind survive if it takes an existential pandemic to save our planet…?
Oh right, put enough women in charge so that “mankind” evolves into womankind. I’ve been championing this evolution for decades. The following titles to just a few of my commentaries attest to this:
- “Cracking the Political Glass Ceiling: First Woman to Become President in South America,” December 12, 2005
- “Women Make Better Politicians than Men,” October 14, 2010
- “Men: The Weaker Sex,” June 2, 2015
- “International Women’s Day: Men Should be Barred from Politics,” March 8, 2019
- “Finland Is Great Because Women Rule,” December 12, 2019
This is why it comes as no surprise that
The ones who passed this test [of preparing for and responding to the outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19] with flying colors are disproportionately women. This is despite the fact that they make up only 7% of heads of state.
(Forbes, April 19, 2020)
Indeed, the April 20 edition of The Washington Post hailed women like Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir of Iceland, Prime Minister Marin Sanna of Finland, Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark as
the voices of reason amid the coronavirus chaos.
Unfortunately, the Post failed conspicuously to hail the voices of reason black women like Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados are providing too. Which is why I’m happy to cite Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett for honorable mention.
She is a viral immunologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. NBC introduced her on March 3 as the scientist who is leading America’s efforts to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus.
Dr. Corbett was front and center when President Trump toured her Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory in Bethesda, Md., recently. No scientist in the world could have envied the Gordian task she had of explaining that work to him.
But I urge her to stay off social media – no matter how informed she is or passionate she feels about the racial dynamics of this pandemic. Because tweeting about genocidal conspiracies against black folks not only smacks of Trumpian provocation but undermines her professionalism. Hell, it even gives just cause for Trump to say, Kizzmekia, you’re fired!
Hail, woman power!
[Note: It’s only a matter of time before the smog returns to Delhi (and everywhere else on the planet). The only question is will the world go into lockdown again when Covid-19 returns as Covid-20.]
Related commentaries:
Earth Day…
Weaker sex…
Finland…
woman power…