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FUTURE MATTERS MARCH 2020 by Claire Nelson, PhD The year 2020 got off to a quick start and we were
about, but no one wants to discuss, such as the
sprinting down to the first turn of the track when
herd of environmental black elephants gathering
we got hit by a black elephant.
Yes… Covid-19
out there — global warming, deforestation,
hereinafter known as The Big-C is an elephant
ocean acidification, mass extinction and massive
not a black swan… What is a black elephant?
freshwater pollution. Thankfully, while most of us
Environmentalists have combined black swan with
have avoided thinking about pandemics for fear
white elephant to form the term black elephant,
they could happen like it did in films like ‘Contagion’
meaning “something likely to happen that will
the experts at World Health Organization and the
have a detrimental impact” or in other words
Global Preparedness Monitoring Board have been
a rare but significant risk that everyone knows
aware for some time that the 100 year run of luck
8 HUMAN FUTURES
