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H5N1 Bird Flu Isn’t a Human Pandemic—Yet. American Contrariness Could Turn It into One
(www.scientificamerican.com)
this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2024
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The problem is that we exploit the land animals are on. People build suburbs in areas where these diseases are endemic. E.g., they clear cut a forest near caves and build a massive suburb, and people move in for the cheap housing. The bats that lived in the forests and caves are pushed to the eves of houses. Ebola virus is naturally endemic in those bats, and when a bat shits, it lands on a picnic table. Some mom sets up a picnic on the table and brushes off what she thought was a stick before serving sandwiches and touching her itchy face.
She handles wet grapes that are for the entire fourth grade class picnic, and everyone ingests them. The next day, multiple children get sick, but one family flew to Yellowstone that evening, and another flew to Japan for spring break, spreading the disease internationally before humans are even aware such a disease has even started.
Three weeks later, the health authorities see a mysterious disease in local hospitals, but have no tests for it, and the local health authority doesn't issue a shutdown notice for schools because it's become politicicized and they will lose their job if they make a bad call. A few people dying will get them a repremand at most. That's how pandemics start.
Well, livestock are definitely a major source of animal contact outbreaks, but I do agree with you that wild animals displaced from their environment as a result of land use change is a factor as well.
And what is the biggest contributing factor in land use? Oh, it's animal agriculture again...
thank you for this chart, haven’t seen it before but super useful ❤️
making food is a good use of land
Yes, but as you can see, growing plants to feed animals and raising them is a very inefficient use of land.
most of that land is grazing, not cropland. and much of what is fed to animals is waste from crops after we have taken the best for ourselves.
you are right that this is a legitimate source as well, but that’s why i’m suggesting that we eliminate the source that we have more control over: animal agriculture. it is far easier to adopt a plant-based diet than it is to move entire towns around geographically