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 The Ecology of Disease
Understand the Ecology of Disease:-
- Human health is linked to animal health and planetary health (BBC, posted and accessed 8 April 2020)
- Destroying nature unleashes infectious diseases (The New York Times, posted 14 July 2012, accessed 14 April 2020)
- Degraded environments and pollution make us more likely
to encounter novel viruses and to be more vulnerable to those viruses when they
start to circulate. (Dr Karen O'Neill, Rutgers University, cited at BBC, posted
and accessed 22 April 2020)
-
The
current approach to disease outbreaks is trying to contain them and develop
treatments or vaccines, which the scientists say is a “slow and uncertain
path”. Instead the root causes must be tackled, including stopping the demolition
of forests to produce meat, palm oil, metals and other commodities for richer
countries. (The
Guardian, posted and accessed 29 October 2020)
- Warming temperatures [due to the CEE]
do not only threaten lives directly. They also cause billions of hours
of lost labor, enhance conditions for the spread of infectious diseases
and reduce crop yields. (Scientific American, 29 June 2021 tweet; full article here)
Scientists say that our destructive relationship
with nature is putting us at greater risk of pandemic diseases (see ‘Extinction: The Facts’, BBC documentary with
David Attenborough, 2020, ±34m35s):-
- Wildlife
markets are unprecedented in scale. Animal-to-human contact is vastly
increased. Many of these trapped/caged animals are highly stressed, which means
they shed their viruses at higher rates (through their excretions). Viruses can
pass to us so more easily.
- We are encroaching further and further into
wildlife habitat. 31% of all emerging diseases have originated through the
process of land use change. Our consumption of beef and poultry and the
associated feeds they need drive the pandemics. Also, not all animals pass on
viruses. It’s more likely to be small animals (rats/mice/bats), but with habitat
loss, the animals that prey on these smaller animals are not there to keep them in check.
Scientists estimate if we continue exploiting nature
in these ways, we will see five new emerging diseases every year.
We are heavily exploiting - and thus destroying - Nature.
For 'civilised' life, 'fun', medical
research and greedy profit.
And so we are effectively self-harming.
Ourselves and our descendants.
Coronavirus is but the start. Worse disease and ecological breakdown is to come unless we start cooperating with Nature...
The house is on fire
and we are all locked in, because of a disease that came from our mismanagement
of nature. (Inger Anderson, head of the UN Environment Programme, cited at BBC, posted 30 September 2020, accessed 1 October 2020)
So, stop blaming China for
Covid-19 (e.g. Trump).
Stop blaming its deliberate release by a satanic elite (e.g. QAnon).
The capitalist system in its ignorance and greed is to blame.
The billionaire elite and corporations of the Rich World need to be removed from power.
Although capitalism did not deliberately create coronavirus, it was a direct
consequence of its inhuman policy. Similarly it has created the current Climate
and Ecological Emergency.
The climate crisis is not
a human-induced disaster. It's an economic crime scene.
(Julia
Steinberger, Professor in Social Ecology & Ecological Economics, 25 September 2020 tweet)
These crises - health, environmental - can be largely
averted by creating a just and sustainable money and political system.
We need to care for Nature and in doing so we truly care for us and our children:-
- Everything we do should be predicated on keeping
nature intact. Otherwise, if you’re destroying nature to make money or to provide
even things that are important, in the end you’re going to have a bigger bill
to pay than if you kept nature healthy and functioning and robust. (Jim Robbins, 23m18s,
posted 2 April 2020, accessed 14 April 2020)
- If we fail to understand and take care of the natural
world, it can cause a breakdown of these systems and come back to haunt us in
ways we know little about. A critical example is a developing model of
infectious disease that shows that most epidemics — AIDS, Ebola, West Nile,
SARS, Lyme disease and hundreds more that have occurred over the last several
decades — don’t just happen. They are a result of things people do to nature. Disease,
it turns out, is largely an environmental issue. Sixty percent of emerging
infectious diseases that affect humans are zoonotic — they originate in
animals. And more than two-thirds of those originate in wildlife. Teams of
veterinarians and conservation biologists are in the midst of a global effort
with medical doctors and epidemiologists to understand the “ecology of
disease.” (Jim Robbins, The New York Times, posted 14 July 2012, accessed 14 April 2020)
Conclusion
For me, the deep story is
that if the capitalist, greedy, corporate, nature-exploiting system did not
rule Earth (see here), then pandemics would be so much less likely = far less deaths from
pandemics + manmade climate change + loss of biodiversity and food supply
collapse = the complicated situation from pandemic lockdowns may never arise.
Or
as Ricardo Rocha (University of Porto, Portugal, cited at BBC, posted
and accessed 13 October 2020) puts it more politely: "If there is a big
take-home message from this unfortunate moment in history [coronavirus] it's
that making nature ill, makes us ill."
Pandemics also require so much
plastic PPE and this has only further
polluted Nature. Less pandemics means less plastic pollution = cleaner Nature = healthier humans!
Instead of Covid-19's "Space - Face - Hands" (i.e. distancing, masks, handwashing), if we truly want to save lives long-term, the message is simply "Save Nature".
In other words, the real story is: ‘Change the (fucked-up) system
and save far more lives, both animal and human’.
Further Quotes
Pandemics are not a question of fearful
and anxious reaction, but rather all about wise prevention. By preserving biodiversity and
honouring Nature, we prevent pandemics. Since 1994, there have been seven
diseases caused by our severe abuse of nature. Covid-19 has been the first
global pandemic. Unless we want more, put Nature first!
(Inspired by Extinction Rebellion Madrid 5
November 2020 tweet)
'Turning wild spaces
into farmland and cities has created more opportunities for animal diseases to
cross into humans, scientists have warned. Our
transformation of the natural landscape drives out many wild animals, but
favours species more likely to carry diseases, a study suggests. The work adds
to growing evidence that exploitation of nature fuels pandemics. Scientists
estimate that three out of every four new emerging infectious diseases come
from animals...
When humans modify habitats, more unique species are
consistently lost and are replaced by species that are found everywhere, such
as pigeons in cities and rats in farmland. These survivors appear to be the
ones that host the highest number of diseases. They include certain rodents,
bats and birds.'
(BBC, posted 5 August 2020, accessed 8 August 2020)
'The world is in an “era of pandemics” and unless
the destruction of the natural world is halted they will emerge more often,
spread more rapidly, kill more people and affect the global economy with more
devastating impact than ever before, according to a report from some of the world’s leading
scientists.
The emergence of diseases such as Covid-19, bird flu and HIV
from animals was entirely driven by the razing of wild places for farming and
the trade in wild species, which brought people into contact with the dangerous
microbes, the experts said.
“The risk of pandemics is increasing rapidly, with
more than five new diseases emerging in people every year, any one of which has
the potential to become pandemic,” the report says.
It estimates there are more
than 500,000 unknown viruses in mammals and birds that could infect humans.
The
current approach to disease outbreaks is trying to contain them and develop
treatments or vaccines, which the scientists say is a “slow and uncertain
path”. Instead the root causes must be tackled, including stopping the demolition
of forests to produce meat, palm oil, metals and other commodities for richer
countries.'
(The
Guardian, posted and accessed 29 October 2020)
New coalition calls on governments to tackle root cause of emerging infections – the destruction of nature...
Global spending to date in response to Covid-19 is believed to exceed
$20tn (£14.45tn) but a study from July estimated spending just
$27bn a year would substantially reduce the risks of another pandemic
on the scale of the coronavirus outbreak.
(The Guardian, posted and accessed 9 March 2021)
This point is backed by Professor James Wood, of Cambridge University.
“I think there is very strong evidence for this [Covid-19] being
caused by natural spillovers but that argument simply does not suit
some political groups. They promote the idea that Covid-19 was caused
by a lab leak because such a claim deflects attention from increasing
evidence that indicates biodiversity loss, deforestation and wildlife
trade – which increase the dangers of natural spillovers –
are the real dangers that we face from pandemics.”
In other words, fiddling with viruses in laboratories is not the
dangerous activity. The real threat comes from the wildlife trade,
bulldozing rainforests and clearing wildernesses to provide land for
farms and to gain access to mines. As vegetation and wildlife are
destroyed, countless species of viruses and the bacteria they host are
set loose to seek new hosts, such as humans and domestic livestock.
This has happened with HIV, Sars and very probably Covid-19.
And that, for many scientists, is the real lesson of Covid-19.
(Robin McKie, The Guardian, posted and accessed 22 August 2021)
Resources
- Disease warning on climate change (BBC, 2008).
- The Ecology of Disease (Jim Robbins, The New York Times, 2012).
- Climate Change Is Having a Major Impact on Global Health (Tanya Lewis, Scientific American, 2019) [Warming temperatures are exposing more people to heat waves and increasing the risk of disease spread].
- Coronavirus: Exploiting
nature 'drives outbreaks of new diseases' (BBC, 2020).
- Educational
Series: Cruel Wet Markets Have Devastated Wildlife and Caused the COVID-19
Pandemic (Animal Petitions, 2020).
- New evidence of virus
risks from wildlife trade (BBC, 2020).
- Cost of preventing next pandemic 'equal to just
2% of Covid-19 economic damage'
(The Guardian, 2020).
- Coronavirus: Vietnam bans wildlife trade over pandemic risk (BBC, 2020).
- City growth
favours animals 'more likely to carry disease' (BBC, 2020).
- Deadly diseases from wildlife thrive when nature
is destroyed, study finds (The
Guardian, 2020).
- Protecting nature is vital to escape 'era of
pandemics’ – report (The
Guardian, 2020).
- How
Climate Change Is Ushering in a New Pandemic Era (Jeff Goodell, Rolling Stone, 2020)
[Estimated 1.7 million undiscovered viruses are thought to exist in
mammal and avian hosts; of these, more than 800,000 could have the ability to
infect humans; but it's how humans interact with nature that's most critical].
- Jane Goodall says humanity's 'disrespect of the natural world' brought on the pandemic (Rachael Rettner, Live Science, 2021) [The legendary primatologist urged people to develop a new, more sustainable relationship with the natural world].
- World leaders ‘ignoring’ role of destruction of nature in causing pandemics (The Guardian, 2021)
[The root cause of pandemics – the destruction of nature –
is being ignored, scientists have warned. Ending the destruction of
nature to stop outbreaks at source is more effective and cheaper than
responding to them, scientists say.].
- ‘There are viruses just waiting in the wings’: how do we stop the next pandemic? (The Guardian, 2021)
[Climate change, habitat destruction and economic and technological
advances all hasten the spread of viruses. Understanding the connection
between humans, animals and the environment is key to planning for
future pandemics, experts warn.].
- Factory farms of disease: how industrial chicken production is breeding the next pandemic (John Vidal, The Guardian, 2021)
[At least eight types of bird flu, all of which can kill humans, are
circulating around the world’s factory farms – and they
could be worse than Covid-19].
- As Covid recedes in US a new worry emerges: wildlife passing on the virus (Melody Schreiber, The Guardian, 2021) [New study shows that deer can catch the virus from people and give it to other deer in overwhelming numbers].
- It's Time to Fear the Fungi (Rose Eveleth, Wired, 2021)
[Humans have long been protected from fungal infections, thanks to our
nice, warm blood. Climate change could ruin that, as the fungi adapt to
warmer temperatures, then invade us. But remember that what we really
need to fear is human ignorance/greed/evil, as it created the CEE. Fungi are actually so good for Life - see here, here, here.].
- Failure to prevent pandemics at source is ‘greatest folly’, say scientists (The Guardian, 2022)
[Protecting wildlife to stop viruses jumping to humans would save far
more than it costs. But it offers no profit for corporations, no
immediate metrics for public health nor government. It details three
key actions: global surveillance of wildlife viruses, better control of
wildlife hunting and trade, stopping deforestation. The cost-benefit
analysis did not even include: the damage caused by family deaths, lost
jobs, delayed medical treatments, lost education, viral outbreaks in
livestock/crops. Prevention is better than cure.].
- The Nightmare of Microplastics (Jim Baird, Twitter thread, 2022; also here).
- Can microplastics facilitate the emergence of infectious diseases? (Claire Loiseau & Gabriele Sorci, Science of the Total Environment, Volume 823, 1 June 2022).
- Pigs can pass deadly superbugs to people, study reveals (The Guardian, 2022) [Antibiotic resistance is growing as a result of overuse on farm stock].
- ‘Potentially devastating’: Climate crisis may fuel future pandemics (The Guardian, 2022)
[‘Zoonotic spillovers’ expected to rise with at least
15,000 instances of viruses leaping between species over next 50 years.
Coming decades will not only be hotter, but also sicker. Too late to be
preventable.].
- We Created the ‘Pandemicene’ (Ed Yong, The Atlantic, 2022)
[By completely rewiring the network of animal viruses, climate change
is creating a new age of infectious dangers. Species that have never
coexisted will become neighbors, creating thousands of infectious
meet-cutes in which viruses can spill over into unfamiliar
hosts—and, eventually, into us.].
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Also see:-
Health articles
Vaccinations
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The Ecology of Disease
