We as human beings have forgotten that we’re part of nature. And this pandemic ironically seems to be the revenge of the wild on humanity.

“Most Europeans are actually enjoying the quieter times, they are enjoying nature. They would like to see this situation turned into the EU seizing the opportunity to promote a different kind of economy. But of course, as we know, interests will lobby the EU. It’s gonna be tough. There is going to be a lot of fighting going on. We’ll see what comes out of it.”

Hedvig Morvai made The Call with Rosa Balfour, director of Carnegie Europe to discuss the effects of the pandemic on people and nature. She belives that we have to be aware that these could be ominous times, but at the same time there is a lot of potential to do things differently. EU could take advantage of this pandemic to promote a green economy and investments in a green and digital economy as well as to strenghten it’s mechanisms of cooperation and solidarity.

This text and video is published under the Creative Commons License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. The name of the author/rights holder should be mentioned as followed. Author: Jovana Trifunović and Igor Bararon / tippingpoint.net. Cover picture: Filmstill from the Video “The revenge of the wild on humanity” The Call with Rosa Balfour, illustration: Norma Nardi

The Call

The COVID-19 pandemic shattered lives, put social contracts and international relations to test, disrupted economies. Governance systems, good and bad, are in distress. The better off are confined to home offices uncertain of their livelihoods. The less lucky face new heights of digital authoritarianism or sheer violence. The omnipresent media seem to be failing its watchdog function even in world’s oldest democracies. Already eroded, global democracy standards are yet to receive the full blow of pandemic’s political, social and economic consequences.

The video series The Call is an attempt to try to understand better the political, cultural and social implications of the pandemic by asking thinkers and doers from the ERSTE Foundation Community to weigh in with their thoughts and predictions.