I arrived in Heathrow mid-March, untested both on arrival and on departure from the USA for COVID-19. Thank god for the piece of paper handed to me telling me to wash my hands before I was sent out into central London, potentially carrying a deadly virus. Close call.
COVID-19 has proved the fragility of our society; while we are confined to our homes for fear of a deadly virus, Lord of the Flies, and its depiction of ‘the world, that understandable and lawful world...slipping away’ has never seemed more apt. But the more I think about coronavirus, the more Golding’s “beast” seems like an appropriate metaphor for it. And in Simon’s words, the “beast” is “only us”.
As reported by IPBES, ‘there is a single species that is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic – us.’ Our violently exorbitant destruction of our climate and biodiversity in an attempt to partake in what the authors of the IPBES refer to as ‘economic growth at any cost’ directly causes pandemics, and will continue to, as we interfere with wildlife potentially carrying infectious disease, through our “rampant deforestation, uncontrolled expansion of agriculture, intensive farming, mining and infrastructure development” (IPBES). Essentially, we have the power, should we choose to listen to science, to avoid future pandemics if we change our relationship with the environment.
Unfortunately, we seem to have a voted in a government who do not listen to the science; PM Johnson refused to take part in Channel 4’s climate debate in the run up to the 2019 election, called climate change activists “crusties” and reportedly admitted to Ms O’Neill, the former UK climate envoy that he “doesn’t really get” the threat climate change poses. Meanwhile, the co-chair of the IPCC working group on impacts warned that “this is the largest clarion bell from the science community and I hope it mobilises people and dents the mood of complacency” over a year ago. This seems comparable to when, in Lord of the Flies, Piggy, the established voice of reason asserts from the beginning that “life...is largely scientific”, and is typically ignored, while Jack - whose reasoning for being “chief” is “arrogance” and that he can “sing C sharp” as “chapter chorister and head boy” - is followed and eventually leads the boys into savagery. It’s 2020. Isn’t it time we elect a Piggy, not a Jack?
We must alter our voting tendencies to avoid another pandemic. As reported by Shaena Montanari for Business Insider, “Epidemiologists have been warning of a coronavirus outbreak for years and say that another pandemic will happen again”. We need to vote in someone who can actualise the false sense of collectivism that Boris Johnson tweets about, saying we need to “work together” to “beat the virus”. In reality, to “beat” this virus and any other for that matter, we must listen to the science. Otherwise, perhaps we should add a few spears to our wardrobes.
While coronavirus has impacted us in so many horrible ways, it has also given us a rare opportunity to understand just how seriously we need to take changing our societal attitude - we cannot miss this opportunity. If we do, it is like missing rescue from a ship on that “tight little knot on the horizon” simply because of a “smokeless” fire signal.
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