Environmental Abuse is Shaking Loose Infectious Diseases

27,000,000 sick individuals, 881,000 deaths, 188 countries: although these numbers may appear to be a part of an opening scene for an apocalyptic thriller, they are the insurmountable results of COVID-19.  The global pandemic has shaken loose the foundation of general safety across the globe, opened the door to political tensions, and disrupted the economy of numerous countries. Prior to March, the phrase ‘Oh no, I forgot a mask!’ was never in the vocabulary of the average person; now, it's one of the most common frustrations from day-to-day. Aside from the realization that no one is safe, the rising of the infectious disease has brought to light a number of questions regarding the deeper origin of COVID-19, and how we as a world contributed to its arrival. The widely-believed origin of COVID-19 is from a single Chinese citizen who ate an infected bat from a bushmeat market in rural China.  Although this event’s credibility has been debated and other conspiracy theories have arised, one thing is for certain: the spread of an infectious disease from an animal to a human is nothing new, nor rare. Six out of every ten infectious diseases are passed from animal to humans, and then humans to humans.  Remember Salmonella, Rabies, West Nile virus, Ebola, and Lyme disease? All have origins in animals ranging from pigs, to camels. Although the globe has not seen a disease outbreak passed from an animal to a human as high profile as COVID-19 since the Swine Flu outbreak in 2009, the point of importance is the actions of humans that are ‘shaking’ the diseases from their natural systems. It's no secret of the environmental turmoil that the world has come to because of exploitation of the natural resources, extensive pollution, and lack of respect for the creatures that roam its land.  So, how does human environmental abuse connect to the rise of COVID-19? Simple: by disrupting the natural balance of the world, we have triggered its defense mechanism, releasing the infectious diseases from their animal hosts to humans. From there, COVID-19 has taken a hold of our lives all due to ignorance of nature’s true power. 

Let’s take a closer look at the bigger picture of infectious diseases that originate in animals and spread to humans.  The name for this occurrence is a ‘zoonotic disease.’ Zoonotic diseases have always been present, but the increase of logging, hunting bushmeat, and clearing of natural habitats has exposed animals to humans in new ways, leading to the spread of diseases.  ‘Zoonosis’ is a rather technical term that has become common vocabulary in the wake of COVID-19.  It can be defined as ‘a term to describe a disease/bacterium that can kill animals and humans.’  David Quammen, a science and nature writer, describes his personal experience of seeing the deadly truths of zoonoses, first-hand. Quammen was photographing the beautiful landscapes and life within the Republic of Congo.  After talking to locals about his experiences within the country, they shared a horrific finding that they saw earlier in the forest.  To his disbelief, he decided to explore this finding on his own; what he found was a pile of thirteen dead gorillas, clinging to one another in their final hours.  Ebola virus was just recently gaining publicity, but this photo he took was the capstone of the true power of zoonotic diseases. The photo taken of the gorillas by Quammen spoke a thousand words, but more importantly the photo ‘served the purpose of reminding us of the connectedness between humans and other species.’ Humans are animals all just as much as your average family pet, or as mentioned, a gorilla. Although slightly more advanced, humans seem to be the ones making the biggest mistakes in taking care of our home. Even at our earliest stages, there is evidence of taking advantage of the land, and once again, the world finds a way of defending itself.  ‘The Story of Easter Island’ tells the events that led to the demise of the 63-square-mile patch of land that once was home to 16 million trees.  In 1200 A.D. a single family came to the island and began to farm the land.  Following their arrival, they expanded the population, overfarmed the soil, and harvested all the timber.  What was left was a desolate island with little to no resources, and a population that was left to survive off the invasive rat meat that arrived via European exploration ships.  The ecocide committed by the Easter Islanders is described by Jared Diamond, the author of ‘Collapse’, as the ‘clearest example of a society that destroyed itself by overexploiting its own resources.’ As mentioned, this is simply a story, but behind it lies truth.  Easter Islanders did commit ecocide, however they are known for their success in building the famous Easter Island Heads that weighed close to 75 tons.  In addition, their adaption to surviving off rat meat could be seen as a success, because they adjusted to the limitations that they created.  In retrospect, humans are adaptable, but if we continue adjusting to lesser circumstances, we will ultimately crumble.  The rise of COVID-19 may possibly be the Easter Island’s equivalent of surviving off rat meat; we have adapted to a new low threshold that isn’t sustainable.  It is the wake up call signaling there is a need to protect the environment and living creatures more than ever from the damage that has so carelessly been thrown upon it.  

When looking at the mass destruction of natural habitats, we often turn to big businesses and their practices for profit.   The world has limits to how much abuse it can take, quantified through ‘planetary boundaries.’ Described in ‘Planetary Boundaries: Guiding Human Development on a Changing Planet,’ is the limitations for nine different earth-system processes along with our current value of the control variables, or simply the things we can change. Land-system change is one of the critical planetary boundaries.  The boundary lies at 75% change, and we are currently at 62%; if the world is to cross that limitation, the world could potentially collapse from the effects.   A perfect example of a key-driver towards the land-system change boundary by influential businesses is the deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest to harvest palm oil: an essential ingredient in many consumer products produced by Kellogg’s. The impact of the 57 billion dollar palm oil industry is displacement of millions of animals, the death of thousands of species of plants, and the overall disruption of the world’s natural cycle.  Big businesses need to drive their industries to more sustainable practices to avoid crossing these boundaries that simply are not bearable for humans to adapt to, let alone the animals that roam the planet.  Assuming that the origin story of COVID-19 came from a bushmeat market, it can only be a sign that we need to change our practices as humans, as businesses, and as a world to avoid pushing past our planet’s boundaries.  As said by David Quammen, ‘we humans are animals, not separate from it or above it.’

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