21 March 2020 – 10:01 GMT – 5°C Mostly Cloudy – Co. Dublin, Ireland
Washing, social distancing and isolation – all required in defence against a virus that jumps from animals we raise to eat – do we need a referendum – would any nation choose hay fever or corona? Not to mention a planet benefitting from methane reductions.
Six coronas included Mers and Sars all ‘jumped’ from animal husbandry. Then a seventh. Time to learn?
Swine flu killed more than 500,000 in 2009.
Avian flu – annual cruelties visited upon tens of millions of poultry while we know H1N1 is a threat to us too?
Foot and mouth – purchase for destruction because we overpacked our animals?
Mad Cow Disease – a disease that could be called Mad Human Risk.
Not to forget brucellosis.
Isn’t it time to reconsider our eating habits?
I’m vegetarian though not for ethical reasons. There are health benefits to me in staying vegetarian. And the longer I am vegetarian, the more I enjoy it. And the more I enjoy it, the longer I’ll last. Apparently.
“In God We Trust” is on a coin I found in a drawer this morning. The message has been a recurring annoyance to me. Until just now – it’s not about bankers being deceitful, maybe it’s best viewed as a message from George Washington to say you can’t trust your leaders. He couldn’t trust a British king. The king didn’t trust him. Perhaps we should assume our leaders are not trustworthy until they earn our respect. Idiots us for voting but we have to start somewhere. Hassan Rouhani could be assumed to be a liar. Donald Trump is obviously a liar. Vladimir Putin too. Recep Tayyip Erdogan no more honest than any of them. I only single these guys out because right now, their wilful deceits threaten a large cohort of humanity. Allies. Axis. Perfides.
Is there a chart of global leadership performance?
The DDI report Global Leadership Forecast 2018 referred to businesses who actively attempt to produce better leaders. That’s not the way politics approaches leadership. And the DDI report might be summarised by a direct quote:
“Only 14 Percent Of CEOs have the leadership talent to execute their strategy
The data in Global Leadership Forecast 2018 shows that organisations with effective leadership talent outperform their peers. Yet very few organisations manage their high-value assets in an integrated, cohesive way. Even after spending more than $50 billion annually on developing their leaders, many companies still don’t have the bench strength to meet their future business goals.”
Who trains our politicians?
I suggest we address the cause of Covid-19 and not just treat the symptoms. Eat plants?
Meanwhile, I wonder if free market and thus competition is really a better incentive than an active, globally directed, coordinated and funded research. Think building nuclear subs – useless toys – an advantage to the rich on whom the poor continue to depend for assistance. Isn’t it better to find global solutions so poorest nations can detect and treat themselves? Otherwise, policy looks like a protection racket.
It’ll take strong leadership to convert the world to a plant based diet. Like smoking, today is the best day to change your habits.
Let’s change the qualifications for leadership to include training.
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