Pandemics and the wild
There has been a flood of research published in the last few years on the origin of brand-new human diseases that jump from animals, mostly mammals, to humans. These are called emerging zoonotic diseases (EZD). SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, is the latest large-scale one. We have had a parade of SARS diseases in the 21st Century; COVID-19 is the 2019 version.
EDZs move rapidly all over the world in today’s interconnected society, and one of them will inevitably be virulent enough to rival the 1918 flu. It is in all our interests to do what can be done to limit EMZs.
That flood of research has shown that there are many environmental factors that have increased the rate of EDZ jumps. These factors include deforestation, habitat fragmentation, encroachment into wildlife habitat, and climate change itself. Biodiversity seems to limit zoonotic diseases, so human activities that threaten species with extinction would seem to threaten humans with extinction as well. What a grim irony.
Unless we want to spend the rest of our lives wearing masks, or lose our lives refusing to do so (future pandemics may not be as relatively benign as this one), we need to acknowledge the importance of preserving what natural environment is left to us. United Nations studies report that 30% of the world’s land and sea needs to be protected by the year 2030, and 50% by 2050. This is not a matter of nature for the sake of beautiful views or even good hikes and climbs (or regulated hunts), but nature to protect our lives from disease.
The U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity is an agreement to try to achieve these levels of protection. It has been signed by every nation on Earth. Except the United States. President Trump has opened our largest wildlife preserve to all comers. He has removed protections from millions of acres of land in National Forests and National Monuments. He does not get it. Destroying our wilderness in the name of business destroys us all. This seems to be a Republican blind spot. President Reagan once said, “I’m all for the environment, as long as it doesn’t interfere with business.”
COVID changes everything. Now it is like saying, “I’m all for human health, as long as it doesn’t interfere with business.”
Maybe the idea is that SpaceX will have built space habitats, and the emperors of business and industry can go live in them, far removed from the risks of life on the denuded Earth. Oh, wait, wasn’t that part of the plot of Wall-E?
Bill Gillmore
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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