Scarcity or
Abundance?
By David Gallup
The COVID-19 virus is not the first pandemic to seriously
impact humanity, nor will it be the last. This global crisis and existential
threat provides an opportunity for humans as a species to determine how we will
interact with one another and the earth from now on. We can choose a
coordinated, interdependent, and holistic approach, or we can continue
haltingly and in vain to deal with global issues selfishly in an ungoverned
world.
Beyond a
Nationalistic Strategy
A virus that impacts everyone necessitates a world
citizen-focused response.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is the UN agency
attempting to coordinate efforts of national governments in their response to
the pandemic. While structures like the WHO encourage local governments to heed
their policy recommendations, they have no power to enforce their suggested
courses of action. National governments may arbitrarily refuse to follow those
guidelines within their self-imposed borders. National governments do what is
in their self-interest or that of their leaders’ economic and political
priorities. Human-made borders, we have realized, do very little to contain a
virus in a free world.
In its proposed 2020-2021 budget, the WHO will receive
almost five billion dollars from UN Member-States. This is a miniscule amount
of money compared to the two trillion dollars that national governments spend
preparing for and waging wars every year.
Not only is the WHO underfunded, but also national health institutions
like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes
of Health are severely underfunded in comparison to the life-saving work that
they are doing.
It’s not a question of whether the world has the resources
and funds to support the health and well-being of all humans and the earth; it
is a question of priorities.
National leaders frequently appeal to the security concerns
of citizens in expanding military budgets, while ignoring the impact that poor health
and environmental degradation has on these same citizens. They argue about scarcity
-- limited funds and resources should be directed at national military defense,
rather than health care, sustainable development, and ecological conservation.
To the detriment of all, national self-defense supersedes
defense of people and planet.
Scare City
In times of crisis, individuals begin to act in panic mode.
They become self-absorbed, thinking only about self-preservation. This is
understandable because fear and protection of oneself and one’s family are
strong motivators of behavior.
Perceived scarcities have created real Scare Cities – people
living in states of fear. The individual behaves like a mini nation-state
setting up borders, raising their self-interest above all other concerns, and
fending off those they perceive as a threat. This selfish mentality has
presented itself in the hoarding of toilet paper, sanitizers, and, most
importantly medical supplies that first responders, health care workers, and
hospitals desperately need.
To help everyone through this crisis, local governments should
establish a voucher system to assist those who have no salary or income. And
there should be total loan forgiveness on necessities like groceries, medical
supplies, housing, and education. Governments could easily provide digital or
physical vouchers to everyone each month to pay for necessities. It just means
that we need to change priorities from using money to wage wars and build walls,
to using money to pay for livingry – tools that support and enhance all life.
Abundance
Resources are abundant in the world. We can feed, clothe,
house, educate, and provide for every human being on the planet, but only if we
choose to use and share resources sustainably to help people and protect the
earth.
Instead of building weapons like war planes and nuclear
bombs, funds and resources must be redirected to advancing both earth and human
health as well as environmental and human rights. Currently, less than half of
the world’s population has universal health coverage. Global institutions
devoted to the rule of law, such as a World Court of Human and Environmental
Rights and a World Peace Force, should replace the wastefulness of vast
national armies. Think how much humanity could do to ensure healthcare and safe
infrastructures for everyone on the planet with the two trillion dollars that
national governments spend annually on waging wars.
Our failure to implement global approaches to global crises
will inevitably lead to higher death tolls from wars, pandemics, and climate
change. How many deaths will occur if we fail to implement a coordinated global
system?
Moreover, the human response to this crisis must not be
about saving any one economy; it must be about saving individual lives, humanity
and the earth as a whole. Human and earth survival are interconnected. We must
develop a human and earth consciousness, as well as a governing system that
matches this holistic awareness, in order to prevent humanity’s extinction.
What we do now will determine our fate. How seriously will
we take our responsibility as world citizens toward each other and the earth?
This is a test of our humanity.
