Page 32 - Sonoma County Gazette April 2020

Happy 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22nd!
Surreal. April Fools not.
Good day to you, dear reader. I hope this column finds you safe, healthy and maintaining a high level of personal sanity in this currently insane world we find ourselves in.
What a difference a month makes. We’ve been through 9/11 and the stock market housing crash of 2008. We still have businesses not even re-opened from the floods last year, not even recovered from the PG&E shutdowns and evacuations, and yet here we are on shutdown again.
As of this writing we are one week into the “shelter in place” orders, with no end in sight. All those around me are adhering to the requirements as closely as possible, and all seem to be in good health. I know that is part of the frightfulness of this disease and the importance of social distancing. People who look and feel healthy can actually be carrying around the virus for many days with no symptoms, potentially infecting anyone they come into contact with.
I’m in the camp of we are creating an economic crisis in response to a healthcare crisis. The financial impacts will be long lasting. I have worked for the Federal government responding to disasters, so I know that money does come through to help rebuild communities, but this time it just seems overwhelming. I’m afraid for our unemployed, I’m afraid for our businesses that were already struggling, I’m afraid more people will lose their homes, their savings and their retirement.
Between the postponement or cancellation of every event locally and worldwide there really isn’t much news to report currently. Things are changing so quickly that even if I provided a list of businesses that remain open it could very likely be vastly different by the time you read this article. Please do your best to support our local business owners whether they are currently open or not. Take the time to reach out to friends, neighbors and family members if nothing else just to say hi.
I’m cautiously optimistic that maybe going forward we will have better leadership in our government and that the world will start working together as one planet, one people. It certainly hasn’t been that way for a long while. Perhaps in the short term we can move from hoarding toilet paper for ourselves, to practicing social distancing for ourselves and for others. One positive outcome might be businesses will see the value in tele-commuting for more employees going forward. Another outcome might be the acceptance of more remote teleconferencing for meetings. Maybe there will be less hate, selfishness, and divisiveness going forward. People working together for the greater good. Last month I traveled for the 4th time to Cuba. You know part of the “Troika of Terror” that is sending doctors, nurses, and medicines they developed to Italy as well as other countries. Talking with them one on one about politics and their families, and you quickly learn that they are more than our neighbors. They are family. We can accomplish so much by reaching out through the fear and misconceptions and working together. We all have fear. Breaking through the barriers to find common ground and humanity is the only way to live, and the only way to make a difference for our planet.
I had a friend call me yesterday and I immediately realized how much I was missing social interaction even if we couldn’t be face to face. I am a generally positive person and I don’t live alone. I love where I live and have an endless number of projects around the home and property to keep me busy. And yet, just the sound of a friendly voice on the other end of the phone really made my day. Thank you Kai!
I read an article in the PD in the last couple of months talking about the noticeable improvement of China’s air quality due to the shutdown of many factories in response to the Corona virus. At the time, the disease hadn’t yet become a big issue here in the states, freeing my mind to wander towards a positive outlook view of a silver (clear?) lining to the gray (black?) cloud of the effects of this disease on their polluted country. The earth itself is not affected by rates of infection or mortality numbers in human populations but our emissions certainly do bear tangible results in myriad ways large and small across the globe.
Speaking of our Hate Free community, I want to thank Monte Rio Chamber for putting up our Hate Free Community sign on the Triangle gateway. In addition, I want to thank Ed Brochu for the tulips. Small efforts can have large impacts.
I also want to thank Jeniffer Wertz, workforce housing fund manager for the Russian River Alliance. Once again, we are first on the streets helping workers that lost jobs and businesses that were closed and lost income. Especially thanks to those that generously contributed to make this assistance possible. Much more help will be forthcoming from other government and private sources. If you would like to help, please go to RussianRiverAlliance. org
Not much on the what’s happening this month in Monte Rio. Please do what you can to help others, whether it’s practicing social distancing or reaching out by supporting your neighbors and our local businesses.
Together, we will get through this.
Vacation Wonderland, we just keep getting better.
wonder how much our global carbon footprint has been lowered by the lack of sports, certainly the equivalent of at least a few factories or power plants. It would be interesting to see a study of the numbers and maybe we can look at trimming a few games from the season, a few miles from the race or make some other effort to lower emissions going forward – unlike the crazy NFL wanting to add games to their schedule.
Goodbye for now, till we meet again dear reader...6’ apart.
When we shut down our industries the earth and all her inhabitants are able to breathe a little easier, an undeniably good thing for however long it lasts. Also an interesting crossroads for humanity as the shutdown wreaks havoc on our economic health, yet helps us in our fight against a respiratory illness wreaking havoc on our lungs.
I am a pretty big sports fan, it’s in my blood. I have some level of interest, from mild to passionate in just about every sport out there. I have no idea what Cricket is about, but it sure is interesting to see. I have zero interest in watching cars drive in circles all day but I do appreciate the engineering that goes into a race car, and the brutal precision it takes to drive one.
As the climate crisis has become ever more dire in the last few years, I have begun to question the polluting nature of sports more and more. Whether
it’s the auto fuel burned as the cars go round and round, or the jet fuel as the planes transport players of every sport around the world and back again – there is no way around the fact that our sports obsession has a pretty large carbon footprint.
With the current shutdown of the sporting world I am saddened to not see Liverpool wrapping up its first premier league title in 30 years, Steph Curry getting to play with Andrew Wiggins and sow the seeds of next years return to glory, and the biggest and most recent development – the postponement of the Olympics until next year.
That said, I am definitely watching less TV which is not a bad thing. I am spending more time reading, which is certainly a good thing. I can’t help but
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