"There is Always Light"
Most of us were glad to turn the page away from 2020 to a new year but personally, it felt that amidst the dominating Covid-19 headlines about closed schools and inequal access to vaccines, not much was changing. Writing a blog about hope for the year ahead kept staring back at me from my screen.
Then I heard Amanda Gorman recite her poem at the inauguration of US President Biden and realised I’d been looking in all the wrong places for my inspiration.
Amanda Gorman, at 22 years old, is the youngest ever inaugural poet and spoke with a fervent honesty asking:
“When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?”
Her five-minute poem talked of unity, history, mercy and might, redemption and recovery, love and change, and showed us all that whatever has gone before us brings opportunity for new beginnings.
Out of turmoil, new possibilities always emerge and that’s something to hang on to as we embark on the year ahead. Perhaps some of the changes that were forced on us, can actually bring some much-needed lasting change?
As we travelled less, the air became cleaner. We were forced to slow down, to walk and cycle rather than fly and drive. And as a result, wildlife returned to our quieter cities.
Analysis by Global Carbon Brief (GCB) shows global CO2 emissions fell by 7 percent in 2020 as a result of global lockdowns. This of course will rebound as the world literally gets moving again, but perhaps some of the changes in how we travel will linger.
There are certainly signs that our recovery from the pandemic could be an opportunity to push the reset button with green policies in mind. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a “green recovery”, and China has pledged to reach carbon neutrality by 2060.
When it comes to beating Covid-19 itself, we should celebrate the fact that scientists have the skills and support to discover effective vaccines with such unprecedented speed. And let’s hope this sets a standard for all vaccine and treatment research so we can set ambitious timeframes and find investment when we want to.
As I start to read the first submissions for our new project Visions of the Future, these hopes for a healthy and green world come through strongly. It is reassuring that the next generation have not been beaten by 2020 but that they are motivated and taking on the challenge.
It’s our duty to listen. And when the headlines next overwhelm me, I’ll remind myself that out of the intense turmoil, good things will emerge, and young people are expectantly ready to move them forward.
As Amanda Gorman concluded,
“For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.”