Making the Best of a Post-Pandemic World – Project Syndicate, May 12, 2020
In the coming post-Coronavirus years, the global economy will be shaped by three trends: (1) The relationship between markets and the state will be rebalanced in favor of the latter; (2) this will be accompanied by a rebalancing between hyper-globalization and national autonomy, also in favor of the latter; and (3) our ambitions for economic growth will need to be scaled down. It’s important to remember that the fate of the world economy hinges not on what the virus does but on how we choose to respond.
The Coronavirus Could Force Countries To Prioritize Wellness Over Wealth – Huffington Post, May 21, 2020
Plotting a path to recovery from the virus has given governments an opportunity to rethink how they measure success. Traditionally, the answer was wealth is good, and the more wealth, the better. But as the human impact of the pandemic hits home, world politicians face growing calls to prioritize people, health and wellbeing over productivity. And global surveys show people don’t want to return to a normal that wasn’t working for them in the first place.
Losing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild by Lucy Jones; Wanderland by Jini Reddy – review – Guardian, April 26, 2020
Nature felt all the more vital under lockdown and will prove one of the big “winners” of the pandemic. This is a review of two new books that examine the importance of nature on our physical and mental wellbeing. The first book, rooted firmly in peer-reviewed science, is full of interesting insights, including how “microbreaks” in nature (looking at a green roof in a city rather than bare concrete) improve our cognitive functioning.
Samsung’s Health Platform Arrives on Its 2020 TVs – Engadget, May 28, 2020
Samsung just announced that its 2018, 2019 and 2020 TVs now have a new wellness “channel”—or portal—giving users access to 5,000 hours of free wellness content, with classes from six wellness apps: Barre3, Calm, Echelon, Fitplan, Jillian Michaels Fitness App and Obé Fitness. Spotify also recently created a whole new wellness music tab/portal, and we’ll see more new partnerships between the big entertainment world and wellness companies, bringing wellness to potentially vast, new audiences. (Samsung is the smart TV leader.)
The Sickness in Our Food Supply – New York Review of Books, June 2020
The juxtaposition of images in the news of farmers destroying crops and dumping milk with empty supermarket shelves or hungry Americans lining up for hours at food banks tells a story of economic efficiency gone mad.
A Striking Stat:
Work-from-home during COVID-19 means people are clocking much longer hours. The global average is two hours more work per day; US employees increased their workday by almost 40 percent (three hours, the largest jump worldwide), while the UK, France, Canada, and Spain are seeing a two-hour increase.
Source: NordVPN Teams, March 24, 2020
