The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) declared in 2016 that emerging infectious diseases are increasing exponentially and globally. There is much evidence this increase is due to the state of the planet. The Tropical Disease Research programme (TDR) states that "The environment plays a powerful role in the transmission of infectious diseases, including vector-borne ones such as malaria, dengue, and trypanosomiasis". Understanding how powerful a role is of utmost importance particularly now Covid 19 has shown beyond doubt that human health is on the line on a massive scale.
Link Between Deforestation and Infectious Diseases
There is a significant link between environmental destruction and pandemics. Animals have lost vast swaths of habitat due to climate change and deforestation. This, along with pollution and our treatment of other species is responsible for the increase in infectious diseases that impact human health.
Huge amounts of trees are cut down daily. In fact, in 2019, the world lost a football pitch of primary rainforest every six seconds. Deforestation forces animals out of their natural habitats, just as global warming is pushing them to migrate towards the North and South poles. As they come into increased contact with other species, pathogens get to infect new hosts, including humans, particularly in crowded cities.
National Geographic explains that "cutting down trees both adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and removes the ability to absorb existing carbon dioxide." When there is too much of this gas in the air it becomes toxic. Carbon dioxide is also the most prevalent and dangerous of greenhouse gases. Dr. Diego Pino, a medical doctor and environmental activist, believes air pollution has increased the mortality rate of covid 19 : “Air pollution hurts our respiratory system, and the Coronavirus attacks the respiratory system. This makes breathing difficult. The combination of the two could be fatal.” Britt Erickson, a writer for the American Chemical Society and Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN), expresses "Scientists have shown that exposure to [other air pollutants] including perfluorooctanesulfonic acid and perfluorooctanoic acid, mercury, and arsenic, can also alter the immune response and increase susceptibility to infectious diseases in multiple species of laboratory animals. Epidemiology studies in humans have linked exposure to various chemicals in the womb with reduced levels of antibodies (...) and increased risk of infectious diseases."
Pandemic Solutions are Global Solutions
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, transportation alone accounts for twenty-eight percent of greenhouse gas emissions. However, this percentage has gone down significantly in the year 2020. Emma Padst, a Global Warming Solutions Advocate, spoke out on how environmentally friendly and effective her experience has been, working remotely: "I would often travel to have meetings. Much of the world is learning now that traveling to meet in person is unnecessary. Oil and gas don’t need to power our lives." Change can occur, and a change such as this could be a step towards a better future environment.
Many emphasize the cost of taking environmental action and how it would mean a reduction in employment, industrial production, and economic growth. Aaron Barnstein, the director of Harvard C-Change compared the cost of environmental measures and that of Covid-19, concluding that not addressing climate change now and therefore encouraging future pandemics will end up being far more expensive. His research takes into account actions to prevent pandemics, such as reducing deforestation and tracking possible infectious diseases. These actions represent a fraction (around 2%) of the almost twenty trillion dollars economists have estimated Covid-19 will cost us. In this sense, Anna Miller from C-Change states that "the initial investment is ultimately a huge cost-saver." She adds that C Change usually works under the premise “pandemic solutions are also climate solutions”.
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