NOTE: During this pandemic, and always, immediate safety, health and other concerns come before discussion on other related issues. Discussion on policies during the pandemic, their implications and choices we make collectively for the future do not, in any way, minimize the impacts of the present crisis.
While this pandemic continues, and most of the world remains locked down, it feels imperative to me to try to look at root causes, as a way to reduce the chances that this happens again. This does not minimize the work that countless people are doing to find a treatment etc. However, I think we can all agree that working to prevent the next pandemic is at least as important as addressing the current crisis. To be clear, information on this current pandemic is rapidly changing. I am focusing on a combination of what we know about this pandemic in the present, as well as what seems to be clear about trends, related to animals, food systems and climate change, in broader terms.
Here is a bit of what I’ve been reading:
Coronavirus: Outbreak puts wildlife markets in the spotlight. Aljazeera.com
Surely the link between abusing animals and the world’s health is now clear Guardian
How did coronavirus start and where did it come from? Was it really Wuhan’s animal market? Guardian
The boast that “when the facts change, I change my mind” is a proud one. “When the facts change, I reinforce my prejudices” is truer. If you want proof, look at the coronavirus that has changed everything and consider the undisputed fact that it spread because of humanity’s abuse of animals.
Imagine a world where facts changed minds. The United Nations, governments and everyone with influence would now be saying we should abandon meat or at a minimum cut down on consumption. Perhaps my reading is not as wide as it should be, but I have heard nothing of the sort argued. Making the case would be child’s play and would not be confined to emphasising that Covid-19 probably jumped species in Wuhan’s grotesque wet markets. The Sars epidemic of 2002-04 began in Guangdong, probably in bats, and then spread to civet cats, sold in markets and eaten in restaurants. The H7N9 strain of bird flu began in China, once again, and moved to humans from diseased poultry.
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Diseases have always jumped species, but the Covid-19 pandemic may be a sign of an ominous acceleration. A paper this month in the Proceedings of the Royal Society suggests the rate of new infections could be rising as humans cram into every corner of the planet. The loss of habitat and the exploitation of wildlife through hunting and trade increased the risk of infectious “spillover”, it said. Ferocious punishments for the use of “exotic” animals for food and medicines are required. Once again, though, that is too easy a slogan for people in the west to chant and feel virtuous as they chant it. We should be examining our own diets.
Guardian – Bold mine
Without adding to much length here, and turning this into a dissertation (or a rant :)), it is abundantly clear that our relationship to animals and food needs to change, to protect individual and communal health, as well as the environment. Actions and results are inter-related in countless ways – individual and communal health, climate change impacts from heavy consumption of animal products, impacts on climate and health from factory farming and markets, impacts from the entire process from beginning to end.
To be clear, that does not mean that there is an inherent problem with someone raising a few chickens in the backyard. I am talking about systems here – most people in the world get most of their meat etc from factory farms and/or from live markets. If we removed that from our global food systems, we would be looking at a very different world. So, given where we are at, what will it take to create change? Does a change to our food systems seem like a worthwhile trade off to reduce the chances of a future pandemic?
Even if individuals change, the dominant culture makes demands for society to change appear ridiculously utopian. Imagine a politician campaigning for stiff restrictions on meat consumption. Critics would accuse him or her of punishing the poor – for people who barely think of the poor always invoke them when their pleasures are threatened. They would be damned for wanting to ban the good old Sunday lunch and the joy a Big Mac brings. Our grandchildren may look back and find our abuse of animals incomprehensible. For the moment, arguments to stop abuse provoke incomprehension.
Guardian (Bold mine)
So far, in Canada at least, one unusual outcome of this pandemic has been a rush on yeast and other baking supplies, with a related increase in people baking bread and other things, far beyond what the average was before the pandemic. In fact, many grocery stores are completely out of yeast. Perhaps eating more rice and legumes and nudging more towards plant-based eating, with a matching change/decrease to our factory farms and other large-scale animal-related food systems, is another change that will come out of this. 🙂
Hope everyone is staying safe. 🙂
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