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> Covid-19 has shown us what can happen when we don't do this, he added. "Nature is our home. Good economics demands we manage it better." I fail to see the li

> Covid-19 has shown us what can happen when we don't do this, he added. "Nature is our home. Good economics demands we manage it better." I fail to see the link, can someone please explain? Is it that Covid-19 has shown us what could happen if we dampen our impact, e.g. less pollution, wildlife being more visible etc.

graeme 6y ago
The theory is that ecosystem destruction pushes animals into closer contact with humans, allowing zoonotic spread to happen. However, as the origins of covid-19 are unknown it’s too soon to say this applies to the current pandemic. Common alternatives for viral origin are hunting, animal husbandry and animal markets, but contra to early theories the wet market in Wuhan is not thought to be the origin. Chinese authorities tested and found no virus amongst animals there. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigations_into_the_origin_of_COVID-19 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigations_into_the_orig...
ArnoVW 6y ago
Generally when people say that about Covid, what they mean is that zoonotic diseases (diseases that spread between animals and humans) could be prevented by: a) separating dense human populations from wildlife b) having in place systems for the detection of outbreaks
Veen 6y ago
Yes, there have been lots of stories about nature "bouncing back" during lockdowns. > all the types of social, economic, industrial and urbanization activity suddenly shut off, nature takes the advantages and showed improvement in the quality of air, cleaner rivers, less noise pollution, undisturbed and calm wildlife https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S004896972034095X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00489... Of course, "dampening our impact" has also set our economies back decades, caused untold misery, and has been particularly hard on the most vulnerable members of our society, which is an indication of the price we'd have to pay to help nature bounce back in this way.

graeme 6y ago

The theory is that ecosystem destruction pushes animals into closer contact with humans, allowing zoonotic spread to happen. However, as the origins of covid-19 are unknown it’s too soon to say this applies to the current pandemic. Common alternatives for viral origin are hunting, animal husbandry and animal markets, but contra to early theories the wet market in Wuhan is not thought to be the origin. Chinese authorities tested and found no virus amongst animals there. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigations_into_the_origin_of_COVID-19 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigations_into_the_orig...

ArnoVW 6y ago

Generally when people say that about Covid, what they mean is that zoonotic diseases (diseases that spread between animals and humans) could be prevented by: a) separating dense human populations from wildlife b) having in place systems for the detection of outbreaks

Veen 6y ago

Yes, there have been lots of stories about nature "bouncing back" during lockdowns. > all the types of social, economic, industrial and urbanization activity suddenly shut off, nature takes the advantages and showed improvement in the quality of air, cleaner rivers, less noise pollution, undisturbed and calm wildlife https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S004896972034095X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00489... Of course, "dampening our impact" has also set our economies back decades, caused untold misery, and has been particularly hard on the most vulnerable members of our society, which is an indication of the price we'd have to pay to help nature bounce back in this way.