NEWH - Summer 2021 - 58

SUSTAINABILITY | POINT OF VIEW

" C " is for Care
By David Mahood

n 1972, when I was nine, I wrote an " A to Z " environment booklet to honor the second
anniversary of Earth Day. I recently located it again, and yes, I recognize I'm no longer
a spring chicken. But what struck me was that here in 2021, 51 years removed from the
first Earth Day, we have faced down a global calamity that has spared few businesses. Our
hospitality industry has been hit particularly hard.
In the booklet, the letter " C " stood for care, which I noted we lacked toward the environment in 1972. In
contrast, one of the lessons of the COVID-19 outbreak of 2020 is that we have an abundance of care and
goodwill. We've seen incredible acts of dedication and compassion. To have witnessed this tragedy is to
never forget that there are beautiful people everywhere who are willing to sacrifice their wellbeing to care
for others. We've seen doctors, nurses, first responders, and essential workers die in the line of duty. In
addition, doctors and nurses became the de facto families of men and women unable to bid goodbye to
their loved ones. That is more than we should ask of them.
Successful societies rely on compatibility and coexistence, which are forms of caring. They are the links to
living today and life in perpetuity. When hotels provided refuge to people on the front lines of battling the
pandemic, we saw it. When upholstery companies began sewing masks and gowns, we saw it. When nearshuttered restaurants fed the hungry, we saw it. Care is in great need during times of crisis. The hospitality
industry has always embraced the notion of caring for others, and NEWH is a fine example of this.

David Mahood is a sustainability
consultant and the principal of
Olive Designs, LLC. He is the
author of One Green Deed Spawns
Another, published in 2017, and of
a forthcoming book entitled, Kings
of a Lonely Kingdom: Earth Day
Essays, Poems and Musings on
Nature.

One of the more unintended consequences of the pandemic, because of a long pause in the economy, was
a reduction in resource usage and a return of native species. I would never make the argument that we
need to lock down commerce to mitigate climate change but why don't we take climate change as seriously
as COVID-19? If the planet has a virus that is equally contagious, why aren't we marshaling the same
forces to combat it? Climate change attacks the respiratory system too, in the form of air pollution, and
disproportionately affects poorer communities, much like the pandemic. One can also make a connection
between COVID-19, human encroachment, and loss of habitat. If we find that the pathway of the pandemic
was a viral migration originating in live animals in dense proximity, then there is even more reason to make
sacrifices to how we care for our planet and its diverse inhabitants. By the way, a stressed-out bat is just
the opposite of a crime-fighting, caped crusader protecting the people.
Lastly, let's gain some perspective from this crisis and take a moment to reset our commitment to
sustainable practices within our appreciable industry because, as we've been reminded, caring is a
foundation of sustainability-in good times and bad. ❙❘❚

For more information on NEWH Green Voice, visit newh.org/education

C O N T RAC T
58 newh.org

058_NEWH_0421_Sustainable.indd 58

4/19/21 9:45 AM

http://www.newh.org/education http://www.newh.org

NEWH - Summer 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NEWH - Summer 2021