Bioneer, It has been a full year since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic due to the spread of COVID-19 and it has been an immensely challenging time for everyone The impacts have been staggering. As we wrote last March in the introduction to Bioneers collection of content on the pandemic, “While the virus itself is considered “novel,” its emergence, spread and the varied global response has unmasked systemic realities that are certainly less than “novel,” including issues that many in this community have been working on for decades.” Even for those who have never contracted the virus, the anxiety of struggling to make ends meet has been on the minds of thousands of people. The disproportionate impact of the pandemic that communities of color are forced to endure highlights deep structural injustices. As much as the past 12 months have represented unprecedented hardship and loss, it has also been a time of unforeseen solidarity, care, and growth. The virus has illuminated the interconnected relationship between public health and planetary health by virtue of the virus having originated in non-human animals. Political theater aside, one thing has become clear in the year since the start of the pandemic: Our future as a species depends on the health of the planet we share. This week, we highlight the voices of some of the people on the frontlines of struggle for human and planetary health in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. | 
