Checking the NZ Doctor COVID timeline, I see that at this time two years ago, New Zealand was recording one new confirmed case a day of COVID from 4-7 March 2020, bringing the total to five at the time. On 11 March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared the emergency a pandemic; and President Trump suspended travel into the United States from most European countries for 30 days.
But today, in our time, our family tentatively ventured into Wellington (after the protests), to a Festival of the Arts event at Te Papa, masked and with vaccine passes at the ready, on a ‘mission to Mars’. Guess we wanted to escape it all, Earth becoming a bit too hot to handle, these days.
But it reminded me that two years ago, a bit later into March, we had ventured into Wellington for a Festival event – only to find it cancelled in that strange, topsy-turvy time before COVID really hit New Zealand, when events were being cancelled voluntarily by organisers all over the place. On that day, with no show to go to, we took ourselves off to Arty Bees second-hand bookshop, and I bought a copy of James Kunstler’s The Long Emergency (a much delayed read).
First published in 2005, it explores the potential impacts (especially for America), of the consequences of converging crises, such as peak oil production, climate change, disease (yes, including pandemics), economic instability and – dare I say it – war. A rather sombre prophetic book perhaps, but I note the subtitle is Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century (my emphasis). The author is only trying to help.
And I hate to say, I haven’t read it yet. I’m just trying to navigate the present complex crisis we’re in, while keeping an eye on the horizon; and trying to keep some personal crises at bay as well.
If I survive reading James Kunstler, I’ll let you know
