#birdsarelouder

28th April 2020

This weekend I had a Zoom call with my mum.

Fixed the clothes drying rack that had been broken for a year.

Helped my son put his bike back together.

Wandered down to our garden plot with my wife to plant broad beans.

Picked up some street feijoas.

Swapped some old brakes for some quince paste.

And sat down for a homemade apple pie lunch.

For all the terrible disruption it’s caused I can’t help wondering if Coronavirus is making me be a better human being and giving the world a bit of a breather at the same time?

Walking our dog over at the park people tell me the air is getting cleaner.

I watch the news and in lock-downed Indian cities grown adults are seeing the night sky for the first time in their lives.

In Singapore otters are frolicking in the parks, seals are out on the streets in Ecuador, dolphins have been reported in Southern Italian ports, deer are out and about in Japan, wild boar are grazing roundabouts in Haifa and capybaras can be seen skipping down Buenos Aires’ avenues.

On Twitter the hashtag #birdsarelouder is trending.

Currently, I read China’s Coronavirus death toll stands at 4642.

Perversely, a study out of Stanford University reveals that after two months of lockdown the reduction of particulate matter in the air will have likely saved 77,000 Chinese lives this year.

Coronavirus reveals so many of our human failings and foibles.

This coming October I was going to The World Social Enterprise Forum in Nova Scotia (now postponed).

The annual conference is an amazing opportunity to connect and learn from the world’s best social entrepreneurs.

Now when I ask myself could I do the whole thing on Zoom and save taking three or four carbon intensive flights? The answer is a begrudging, Yeah, pretty much.

And yet when the conference is rescheduled I know I’ll still really want to get on that plane despite knowing I’ll be re-polluting the air and blocking out the stars again.

For now COVID-19 has banished us to our homes, forcing us to listen to the birds sing.

And I can’t help wonder if they’re singing us something along the lines of….

…..Slow down, call your mum,
grow some food, eat together,
walk the dog, enjoy the stars,
breathe the air and remember
the otters and the seals
the dolphins and the deer
the boars and the capybaras…..

Have a great week

Chris