Make a just recovery to Covid-19 the bridge to carbon neutrality

We remain in the throes of the COVID-19 crisis. That does not diminish the urgency of tackling the climate change crisis and does create an opportunity to address the inequities pervasive throughout our social and economic systems.

Covid-19 has brought into focus long-standing gaps in the safety net, the heath care system, worker protections, access to information, and a vast array of economic and social disparities. Persistent denial has only made matters worse. Our long-standing failure to address marginalized community health, food insecurity, education, resource scarcity, and access to information has hampered our pandemic response and further endangered the very people who are on the frontline doing essential work to benefit all of us.

Sadly, it has taken the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement for several younger generations to learn that the gaps are not the result of neglect, but of a long history of racial abuse and discrimination.

As vast sums of money are being poured into individual, government, and business relief, we need to structure economic recovery infusions to spur a just transition to carbon neutrality. Five principles to be applied in any future federal funding are being advanced by The People's Bailout. They have launched an advocacy movement directed at Congress to:

1. Make health for all people, with no exceptions, the top priority.

2. Provide economic relief directly to the people.

3. Prioritize relief for rescue workers and communities, not corporate executives.

4. Make a down payment on a regenerative economy while preventing future crises.

5. Protect our democratic process while we protect each other

These same principles can and should be applied at the local, regional, and state level. The bridge to combating climate change and centuries of inequities is there for us to travel. Let's get started.

We can all contribute.

Every change - no matter how small - can make a difference. Whether it is a simple act of kindness or using less plastic, we can all engage in making our communities more livable, sustainable, and resilient. You can also help by sharing your experience with others - something you did to make someone smile, a way you cut down on waste, or how you grow your own food.

These are the most challenging times many of us have ever experienced. Though we are practicing social distancing and isolation, there are still ways we can connect.

Help us build this website with the information or resources you have found helpful as you adjust your habits and lifestyles to be more compassionate, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, be healthy, and/or engage with your community. Every action counts. I bet you have developed some new skills or rediscovered old ones as we deal with scarcity, reassess our values, and learn to appreciate what we have.

If we work together, we can make the world a better place to live.

What is an ecosystem?

In the context of the natural environment, an ecosystem includes all of the living things (plants, animals, and organisms) in a given area, interacting with each other and with non-living influences, such as weather, sun, soil, water, climate, and atmosphere (credit to eschooltoday.com). Ecosystems essentially function to maintain balance and sustain life. Even a slight disruption to one element can throw the entire ecosystem into chaos.

The human ecosystem combines nature's ecosystems with the built environment and the social characteristics, structures, and interactions among them in the area of interest.  Key aspects include the physical, biological, social, and engineered and built infrastructure, their interactions, and the feedbacks and controls that result within, or are imposed from outside, the ecosystem boundary (credit to Baltimore Ecosystem Study).

Residents, business, government, and organizations are elements of the Sacramento and Yolo County ecosystem. Many of us believe that our human ecosystem does not operate in balance, nor is it sustainable. Examples supporting our belief include lack of affordable housing, loss of agricultural lands in favor of development which threatens food security, and pay inequities that force people to hold more than one job just to pay the rent or put food on the table.

If we are to work together to slow the onset of climate change and reduce its impacts, we must first recognize that we are part of the ecosystem and that everything we do affects the environmental, economic, and social fabric of the Sacramento and Yolo County region.

Next, we must mobilize all sectors and their resources to create a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive ecosystem for ourselves and future generations. The graphic displayed here is a conceptual representation of a regional ecosystem working together to achieve a common goal of carbon neutrality. Where there is a will, there is a way.