To think our new normal could be a better way of life?

[Wehttam]

Ok first of all, hear me out. Maybe this is hypothetical fantasy but I think it has merit.

As we are adjusting to Lockdown and both its benefits and disadvantages, I have started thinking about how civilisation may be able to use this as a starting point for a new way of life, accepting the previous 24/7 have it all lifestyle is fundamentally poisonous to our wellbeing.

I fully understand this is a global pandemic and is catastrophic for many people, losing loved ones, suffering illness and the fear of how this could potentially affect many people’s lives going forward economically is a worry no one wants or needs, I am not minimising this nor am I advocating for blanket suffering or pain before you come for me.

Environmentally this is momentarily allowing the planet to slowly recover from one of its biggest problems, Us. Look outside, the air is cleaner already, the noise we had so become used to has quietened, our frantic pace of living has slowed, for most of us this will have untold health benefits as well as benefits to nature we will see manifest further over the coming weeks.

I fully appreciate how for many people this is an uncertain time, those suffering DV or poverty are living in hell, the situation right now is unpeeling the veneer society generally paints over these problems though. What if our new reality was to help those who are vulnerable and suffering but still maintain this level of calm muted living.

Excessive commuting, over consumption of single use anything, traffic everywhere, takeaways, shops, bars clubs, restaurants catering for every niche or whim, flying everywhere incessantly, worrying about having he latest this or that, which all means sweet FA at the moment. What it all boils down to is all of that was needless to actually live and breathe properly wasn’t it?

Eventually once Lockdown starts to be lifted, are you willing to go back to that chaos the outside world had become? I’m not so sure I am and I dont think it will be any good for those who do. Thoughts?

"A lesson no one wanted to learn"
You think this is some sort of karma
Thousands of people are dying to teach us all what narsty capitalists we are
Fucking hell

@Santaclauswhosthat it’s not about a glorious socialist new dawn at all, far from it actually.

COVID19 will change the way we operate as a society hopefully for the short term but potentially for a long while until a vaccine is developed.

We are discussing what potential benefits there could be from such disruption so as to not dwell on the shitty effects we will no doubt endure too. How we can embrace the new challenges we will face once it is revealed stepping back into our old ways of doing things is no longer an option.

Also how the planet is being able to take a breather from the polluting selfish 7 billion humans that crawls over it, Us.

@Santaclauswhosthat there’s no need for such harsh language, please. Thank you so much. I do hope you and yours are safe and well.

I'm with Santa

OP l am certainly using all this unexpected free time to think about some choices l have made without even questioning them. Am definitely going to make some significant changes in my little corner of the world.

Yeah well there aren't any benefits. And frankly looking for benefits in the face of 100000 dead is bordering on sociopathic. But that's environmental absolutism for you. It's all for the greater good and humans are so terrible. Not terrible enough to think of the end of your own selfish polluting existence as taking one for the team. Just other people.

@Wehttam.
Well said. Some of us do understand what you are trying to say.

I will travel more, eat out more and socialise more. After having a wasted 6 months, I need to fit more in to catch up

I have no time for environmental nihilism

It would be nice if some element of lower environmental damage happened afterwards but I think we’ll bounce back pretty quickly (if people have money to spend).

Would also love to see the back of IG shite.

The joke thing is that the only way people like will be able to achieve extinction rebellion or it’s like aims is by crashing the economy, massively limiting people’s freedoms and by reducing the quality of life across the planet. Plea see use this as a proper learning experience..,

7 billion people aren't selfish ruining the environment.

The proportion is higher in the developed western world and down to corporations and governments much more than on an individual level.

I'd say those in power and those behind big business are the selfish ones.

We aren't all in this together if we have no power to change anything and if what we can and do do for the environment is just ultimately passing the wind.

I hate to put it this way but 10000 + people die every year. More will die if the environment crashes completely. I wouldn’t expect people staring at absolutes right now to be thinking of more than that, I think we should have rationing and basic income through this crisis and the economics should never have been allowed to push people to breaking point in the first place. I’ve been saying that for years fwiw.
There is just a glimmer of hope and opportunity that we could push for change after this. It has to come.

Whoever said about socialism and capitalism both requiring production for distribution, one thing you’re not taking into account is modern technology. Which is rendering more and more human input in the necessary production redundant, which is why there is so much more luxury around. The issue is that the richest are using that to push the lower groups further down instead of allowing all to share the distribution. That distribution is the issue in Britain.

I guess the range (!) of responses on here shows the possible differing outcomes.....

mother nature is probably very happy right now that we have stopped damaging the planet temporarily, are you not?

That isn't really a valid argument because what Mother Nature would have wanted more than anything, biologically speaking, is for the virus to do it's thing and for millions of people to pop off.

You can't in one breath support lockdown and saving lives while saying that we are 7 billion polluting cockroaches. If you believe that, then surely you should go and cough on everyone in Sainsbury's so a few more of us will go.

Not everyone wants to live the simple life - some people like busy lives, full routines and sweaty nightclubs. I agree travelling abroad should never have become cheaper than hopping on a train though.

And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.

I'm not doing a single one of these things. I'm desperately trying to control a teenager with ADHD in a tiny flat with 0 outside space, whilst relapsing into the eating disorder that almost killed me and has had me hospitalised five times. I can't access my treatment as efficiently as when I'm home, all DD's hospital appointments have been cancelled, and my job can't be done from home, so I have nothing to do all day. I'm begging for life to go back to normal.

peppermint try to find the tiny glimmers of positive because otherwise a bleak black cloud will take over your mental health. It’s a horrible situation and a lesson no one wanted to learn but here we are.

Eh ? PMSL at faux concern for mental health and psychobabble. This thread just keeps on giving! And all the collectivism of it all 'we' are being taught a lesson and Mother Nature and blah blah blah. Speak for yourself. Couching it all in this collective business is cowardly bollocks. I'm telling you, that cocktail on my next cruise is going to taste even better, I'm much looking forward to it. I don't need for thousands of people to die to learn a lesson, I've had plenty in life to teach me. I'm enjoying my life and will continue to do so.

If you want to spend your own wringing your hands, tearing your hair and keening, by all means, do.

@Wehttam unfortunately me and mine are far from safe and well as we've already lost an extended family member to this.

But do continue to pontificate about how you'll take the opportunity of his death to discover mental and spiritual enrichement.

try to find the tiny glimmers of positive because otherwise a bleak black cloud will take over your mental health.

It's this type of drivel and the other side of the coin "your normal is history " and you'll all be poor and homeless that would drive me bonkers.

I'm accepting what's going on, I'm muddling through and waiting for it to end.

Not waxing lyrical about happy birds and how we should all slow down. It might be your coping mechanism, fair enough on that..but it's YOUR coping mechanism.

Thousands of people have died in vain. There is no rhyme or reason to it. They haven't contributed to a bright new future. They died in vain just like the millions that die in wars,from illnesses and diseases (from cancer to flu) ,in the line of duty, in stupid accidents etc.

The roaring 20s was also a result of ww1.

Socialism and communism too both rely on people working and generating money,

Not to mention that they don't work either because it's a system that still relies on people, and people,especially the ones that have power,suck. You'd still have have and havenots, a multitiered society , bribery and corruption. There would just be smaller numbers at the top .

I'm a single mum of three one with sn living in a flat with no garden. I am not feeling very enlightened at the moment. I miss work, I miss my extended family and my abusive ex is trying to use this as a way to worm his way back in (not happening). I'm sick of the kids fighting and I hate home schooling so can't wait to go back to normal.

I would like to see people working from home, where it's possible and unlike that we are appreciating the people who really keep this country going, rather than the people we usually consider to be 'important' - I hope that appreciation continues. I think I will continue to use all the food I have bought and be more considered about what I really need - I am not wasting food at all and I intend to continue that.
But I miss mooching around the shops, buying a coffee and chatting to random strangers without fear. I long for the freedom to go where I want, when I want and I'm not willing to give that up.

Things like this fill me full of rage because it comes from a place of complete privilege. You can work from home and socially isolate because you have a home and infrastructure, you don’t like in a slum next to hundreds of other families, you have access to soap and water so you can keep clean and protect yourself. Millions across the world can’t do that. This virus is spreading in lower and middle income countries and I am truly frightened to think about what it will do there.

For many this is the worst time in their lives, others are terrified of what is to come. Many won’t survive and for others their lives will be changed in ways we cannot yet imagine. So no, I won’t look on the bright side. Because there isn’t one if you look past the end of your nose and acknowledge the suffering of others.