11.04.2020
Corona and social relations with nature
Blog article by Lena Schlegel
A plea for why we need to change our relationship with nature
"Nature is sending us a message with the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing climate crisis," UN Environment Commissioner Inger Andersen stated in the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/coronavirus-nature-is-sending-us-a-message-says-un-environment-chief?CMP=soc_567%E2%80%9CThere) on 25 March 2020. But what does she want to tell us? What does the corona crisis have to do with climate change and what can we learn from it for social (nature) relations? The corona crisis once again shows our existential connection to the natural world. In this article I argue that we have to change the modern understanding of nature in order to be able to account for the unlimited consequences of our impact on nature and to cope with the current ecological crisis.