Virus wars is like a World War

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The COVID -19 pandemic could be the first spark in a deadly clash between Nature and Humanity. It is like a train wreck in a slow motion. This clash could turn out to be the spark that ignites a whole-of-global-society meltdown like in the world wars of 20th century. Those were conflicts with humanity. Few may have recognized it yet, but the world wars of 21st century have already begun and unlike of those of the past century, new conflicts are between humanity and nature.     

The world witnesses two wars today - one is alarmingly offensive war the deadly novel Coronavirus  wages spreading COVID -19 and killing thousands of people every day, and other is defensive war the nations of the world are  waging against the microscopic pathogen, with their nuclear bombs and other lethal weapons ineffective in this exchange. 

When it was triggered, like World War I, by a cruel twist of fate, it was a case of fragile systemic waiting dangerously to be exposed. Over-population, hyper globalization, widespread poverty, weak governance,  diminishing international co -operation, and on the top of it, rampant environmental exploitation are the ills of our failing status-quo. 

Humanity failed to sufficiently reform itself after World War I. Today, we are at it again. The Covid-19 pandemic is round one of human civilization vs. Mother Nature, a full dress rehearsal and wake up call for the bigger clash ahead. A climate collapse will be surely multiple folds more destructive and protracted. 

The global health emergency and economic devastation, two sides of the same coin, have already sparked the irrational market clash and escalating row between China, US and other nations. A prolonged state of viral suppression will invariably heighten the risks of financial crisis, political upheaval and societal unrest, destabilizing an already unsettled world.        

As there are 7.8 billion people in the world, humans will, certainly survive this viral attack. But survival can't be construed as victory. If we don't learn precious lessons, virus is teaching us and are not ready to stop destroying the environment in the name of development, such development will lead us only to mass graves as the world faces today.   

In recent years, conscious capitalism and consumerism have been taking root, as society's reflex to the chronic climate crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a stark reminder of the destructiveness of nature when it goes out of balance. More individual soul-searching and societal introspection should energize this movement into the mainstream. 

Will humanity transforms its structures, systems and behaviors in time to avoid the next world war of 21st century? While that remains to be seen, my views are that we will become more willing but less able to do so after the Covid-19 pandemic.  



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