Editor’s Note

In many ways, this issue of Current Conservation feels very different, produced as it was under the shadow of a pandemic. There has been no dearth of coverage on what life under COVID-19 looks like. It’s impossible to miss the severe bumps in our systems unveiled by the virus’ spread, and its effect on the marginalised. Despite an onslaught of information, I wonder if we share moments of denial. We’ve registered the anxiety, but not necessarily its symptoms. Is it just the virus we’re worried about or the very lethal fallibility in systems painstakingly designed to protect us from situations like this? Our “normals” were already terrifying to those living with disabilities, neurodivergence, and marginalisation. As we try to function today, I can’t help but hope for a redefnition of normalcy.

Though 14.1 has been put together through stressful bouts of selfquestioning, you will fnd no mention of them in these pages. For our team, working together on this issue served as a relief from
our concerns, our minds. We return to voices in conservation that don’t threaten to shout louder over the engulfng noise of fear, but exist quietly, and go where they are needed. These
principles speak to me with urgency now more than ever.

In this spirit, I do hope you take a moment for yourself, enjoy reading this issue of Current Conservation, and go where you are needed.
—Shruti Sunderraman