HOW WE CAN HELP EACH OTHER
With a strong network of people committing to regular communication, nobody should be left alone and unsupported during this crisis.
Advice to Share
Don’t buy more than you need.
Panic buying means some people can’t buy essential items. It’s also hindering food banks that desperately need it to support people worse off.
Work from home if possible. Avoid non-essential travel, pubs and social gatherings.
Keep in touch with family and friends.
Use phone calls, video calls, email and social media to check in with your loved ones regularly.
Cover your mouth and nose
with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards.
Wash your hands with soap and water often
Do this for at least 20 seconds. Always wash your hands when you get home or into work.
Support vulnerable people in your community
such as the very young, elderly and people with low immunity. You can offer neighbours help via a paper message through their letterbox. Ensure you wash your hands before handling the paper and wear gloves.
Reach out to those who are isolated.
There are times when we will be worried or frightened, and some may go through loss of loved ones. Reach out to them either online or through safely handled paper messages.
Extinction Rebellion Derby and COVID-19
We’ve already been thinking about the breakdown of society, because we are concerned about the climate and ecological emergencies. For humanity to survive these crises, we need to support each other and build strong community bonds. We need to be compassionate and supportive of our family, friends, neighbours and strangers in these difficult times.
Extinction Rebellion exists to protect life, both now and for future generations. Right now, we all need to prioritise public health, follow advice from scientists and doctors, and be mindful of the most vulnerable in our communities.
Mass public gatherings will not be organised by Extinction Rebellion until it is safe to do so. We are running online campaigns both for helping communities affected by COVID-19 and to keep demanding urgent action on the climate emergency.
This calls for an evolution – not a shelving – of our rebellion. This is a time to remember what we are rebelling for – a thriving and just world of regenerative cultures that can weather crises, foster cooperation and look after each other on a global scale. Check it out:
“Folding@home is a project focused on disease research. The problems we’re solving require so many computer calculations – and we need your help to find the cures!”
Let your computer help find a vaccine to COVID-19 virus and other diseases, in the background while you do other things, with Folding at Home
Help Collect Data
Take 1 minute to report your health daily, even if you’re well.
- Help slow the outbreak
- Join millions of people helping to fight COVID-19
- Help scientists identify high-risk areas in the UK
Beating the Virus
A good resource for younger children and people with learning difficulties to explain what’s going on right now:
How not to worry too much about teaching your primary children at home: This is Not Homeschooling
Keep in contact with loved ones and rebels: How to Use Zoom Guide
Stressed out? Try these meditations on the YouTube Channel for XR Regenerative Cultures UK
The Pandemic in Context
Coronavirus and climate change are two crises that need humanity to unite.
“The alarms for both COVID-19 and climate change were sounded by experts, well in advance of visible crises. It is easy to forget, but at the time of this writing, the total deaths from COVID-19 are less than 9,000 — it is the terrifying computer model predictions of much larger numbers that have alerted governments to the need for swift action, despite the disruption this is causing to everyday life.
Yet computer models of climate change also predict a steady march of increasing deaths, surpassing 250,000 people per year within two decades from now.
As scientists who have studied climate change and the psychology of decision-making, we find ourselves asking: Why do the government responses to COVID-19 and climate change — which both require making difficult decisions to avert future disasters — differ so dramatically? We suggest four important reasons.”
Eric Galbraith, Professor of Earth System Science, and Ross Otto, Assistant Professor of Psychology, both of McGill University
‘Tip of the iceberg’: is our destruction of nature responsible for Covid-19?
“As habitat and biodiversity loss increase globally, the coronavirus outbreak may be just the beginning of mass pandemics” Read article in the Guardian on why the virus and ecological breakdown may be linked
The precautionary principle applied to Covid-19:
Governments have ‘historic opportunity’ to accelerate clean energy transition, IEA says
‘Nature is taking back Venice’: wildlife returns to tourist-free city
With the cruise ships gone and the souvenir stalls closed, the coronavirus lockdown has transformed La Serenissima’s waterways Read article on Venice
A note about global dimming
Yes, Venice has clean water and the skies are clearer. Sadly the drop in emissions will actually increase the global temperature initially, due to the lack of global dimming which is when the blanket of dust actually protects us from the sun’s rays. When it goes and the world warms up more, other feedback loops may kick in like methane release. Obviously less CO2 will be better in the long run. Global dimming has been exaggerated by some. According to Scientists Warning, “The tendency to oversimplify and overstate aspects of the aerosol masking effect in popular media, among the non-science public, has led to problematic reporting, exaggeration, and fake news.” See more explanation and videos at scientistswarning.org