CAN COVID BECOME A CLIMATE CHANGE BENEFACTOR?

Previous to this pandemic most companies were reluctant to have even a fraction of their employees work remotely, and it’s probable that more than half of the people who worked in offices and buildings before the pandemic but have been remote working since will eventually return to doing so after the transmission risks of Covid are mitigated (either through vaccine, herd immunity or because this virus becomes endemic).

But what if we took this disrupter and flipped it from a crisis to an opportunity?

Say for example, the Government of Canada were to create a modest Corporate Tax Credit of just $500 per year for every employee a company has that works from home at least 60% of their time (pre-existing telecommuters and new ones would be included but not those whose work qualifies for travel expenses more than 30% of their time).

AND say for example, the Government then provides every employee that meets the above qualification with a $300 per year Personal Tax Credit for working from home at least 60% of their paid hours!

It seems like that might not be enough of an incentive for Companies and Employees, but that’s not quite true, is it? In addition to the corporate credit the company would see corporate expense savings by not needing to “box” an employee, and in addition to the personal credit, each employee would save not needing transportation, clothing and food to get to and from that “box”.

And since 90% of all government infrastructure spending is in support of moving people around, with just 40% fewer people on the roads, highways and transit systems GOVERNMENTS AT ALL LEVELS would see a drastic drop in demand for infrastructure because fewer cars mean less work on roads and less demand for new highways while fewer commuters mean less investment in transit or at least, more concentrated and targeted transit investment.

And cutting any of that would save Cities, Provinces and the Federal Government HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS each year, surely more than enough to off-set the cost of those tax credits.

But more importantly, since one of the most immediate visible effects of the pandemic was pollution reduction in China (where we’ve seen smoggy skies clear for the first time in decades) and suddenly more clear water all around the Mediterranean (there’ve been reports of dolphins swimming up rivers around Rome for the first time in almost a century) the reduction in human activity caused by working remotely has a significant ecological benefit.

Meaning those modest Tax Credits not only benefit corporations and benefit their employees, but could also benefit our biosphere and the animals that live in them (us included).

Suddenly, the shift forced on us by necessity becomes a gateway to not only achieving the Paris Accords but possibly exceeding them.

And when people do need to go somewhere, well, driving is a lot more pleasant when you’re not bumper to bumper for hours on a drive that during the pandemic took only 30 minutes!

Isn’t that a win/win/win?

Think about it.

WRONGED, RIOT, REPEAT - the definition of INSANITY

I know I see the world differently than most.  I grew up buying into the Star Trek concept of inclusion, where "Infinite Diversity, Infinite Combinations" means that your differences don't have to be mine but they're neat and you should be able to celebrate them, and I celebrate your differences without feeling threatened by them.  Where your love for something I don't like shouldn't invite my scorn, just my acceptance.  Where my love for something you don't get gets the same treatment.  In short, respect because ultimately, if someone is passionate about something then we should celebrate that passion, unless it's harmful to them or others.

And this brings me to my take on BLACK LIVES MATTER.  Yes, of course they do.  And what that group experiences daily is sickening and we shouldn't be bothered about only when an extreme event happens.  I'm as sickened by a store clerk assuming I was first despite a person of colour standing ahead of me in line as much as I am a cop chokes a black man to death without remorse because I don't believe any life is more important than any other and I can put myself in the shoes of that other person.

Unfortunately, the reality is that limiting any call for action to a single group just because we want to highlight the difficulty and threat that group lives with is by its very definition... limiting.

To combat the root causes of Black Lives Matter we need to focus on the overlap, the commonality, they have with everyone.  And while examples outside the black community are more difficult to find in America there isn't a single issue Black Lives face that isn't in some way universal, but that isn't why we need to include everyone in this call to action.  

It's because when you focus on the common overlay you remove the racism from it.

Simply put, I'm not black, and because black lives have it so hard I won't lie, I'm thankful I'm not black.  But I am human, so what happens to black people in America doesn't affect me as it would someone in that community, but it affects me because I'm human.  

And it's because of that commonality that it bothers me that police are killing anyone. PERIOD.  

It bothers me that police are killing people they already have in custody.  PERIOD.  

It bothers me that police are violent and brutal with someone who is unarmed.  PERIOD.

It bothers me that police are confrontational with someone minding their own business, or targeting anyone, anywhere, without cause.  PERIOD.

None of which, in my opinion has anything to do with the colour of the skin of the victim.  I don't care if they're black, Asian, Muslim or First Nations: they're human, and humans shouldn't be treated like that.  PERIOD.

So if people are saying "ALL LIVES MATTER" because they know a white homeless guy down the street and his life is as important as a black man who was murdered by police, I get it, but you've got it all wrong.  

I want the police to stop murdering PEOPLE.  PERIOD!

And I don't care what colour their skin is.  I want Police to stop violently restraining unarmed people, regardless of the colour of their skin.  PERIOD!

I want police to stop pulling people over or stopping them on the street when they're not actually breaking the law, regardless of their skin.  PERIOD!

Because regardless of that superficial identifier, all lives matter!

And until we broaden the scope of that call we'll never stop this problem, because the more you make it about one group instead of being an ALL problem, the easier it is for people outside that group to sit it out and say, "well, I'm glad that isn't me." or "I don't belong to that group so I don't know if I should speak up".

But it is you, because ALL lives matter!  And the sooner everyone realizes that and calls on the government, the police and the courts to stop violating the rights of ALL humans we're never going to stop the constant assault on any one group of us.

Meanwhile, Muslims are treated like crap in places because of a few idiots in 2001; and Asians are being treated like crap now because of where a virus started, and all of this is wrong because those differences are as superficial as black skin and it's ALL born of the same problem.  None of us get to be outside this problem, any problem!  We're all human.  

And if you still don't get THAT, then be prepared for things remaining exactly as they are, because we've been trying it your way for decades, if not centuries, and you've accomplished nothing and never will so long as you keep focusing on the differences!