What if Covid was our fault?

IT WAS 2004 when in the conference Wildlife Conservation Society, hosted by Rockefeller University, health experts from around the world gathered in the “One World, One Health” symposium to express, for the first time, a vision that human, animal and ecosystem health are inextricably linked.

This vision today allows us to read the pandemic through an interpretative model that highlights the role of anthropogenic factors in the genesis of Covid-19. A key notion of our model (published in a volume edited by CEST, Center for Excellence and Transdisciplinary Studies) is that radical changes in one or more of the nine processes of the Earth system – integrity of the biosphere, climate change, new biological entities, ozone depletion, ocean acidification, availability of clean water, changes in the earth system and atmosphere , variation of the biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen and phosphorus – threaten the “safe operating space” for humanity: each of them is essential to keep the earth system intact as a whole.

Coronavirus, in Italy without pollution 15% of deaths would have been avoided

by Tina Simoniello

28 October 2020-

Some of the nine borders are relevant for new epidemics or pandemics, and specifically for Covid-19. We first considered theintegrity of the biosphere and climate change. Over the past decades, industrialization and urbanization have led to a gradual process of extinction of a considerable number of living species, due to the destruction of their natural habitat. If we consider bats, which constitute the “reservoir” of coronaviruses, we can hypothesize that climate change and the destruction of their natural habitat (caves, bridges, trees) may have favored their geographical displacement and adaptation to a less natural environment, closer to humans and livestock, leading to a dangerous interplay between animal and human species.
Increasing urbanization also destroys the so-called “buffer zones” which act as natural barriers between humans and animals, with increased opportunities for pathogens to escape. Wild animals (bats and pangolins) are widespread in Southeast Asia, one of the most biodiverse regions in the world and currently compromised by industrial and urban development.

Covid and environmental pollution: the international task force is born to study the link

nicla armor

May 19, 2020-

Yet, changes in the hydrosphere (the aqueous envelope formed by seas, rivers, lakes and groundwater that envelops the Earth) and in particular the depletion of groundwater and terrestrial waters are particularly evident both in China and in Saudi Arabia, some of the epicenters of the most recent infectious diseases . Their underground system of caves represents the favorite habitat of bats, whose gradual movement increases the possibilities of interaction with humans, favoring spillovers and outbreaks. We must not forget the possible association between atmospheric pollutants, the spread of Covid-19 and the severity of lung disease, on the one hand, due to the effect of pollution on the spread of infection and, on the other, to the degree of exacerbation of the symptomatology and prognosis of patients with the disease. We hope that investment programs aimed at countering the economic damage of the pandemic will lay the foundations for a more sustainable future.
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