We did it to ourselves: scientist says intrusion into nature led to pandemic

[KY_EnviroGuy]

'We did it to ourselves': scientist says intrusion into nature led to pandemic
Leading US biologist Thomas Lovejoy says to stop future outbreaks we need more respect for natural world

Read it here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/25/ourselves-scientist-says-human-intrusion-nature-pandemic-aoe

(snips)

The vast illegal wildlife trade and humanity’s excessive intrusion into nature is to blame for the coronavirus pandemic, according to a leading US scientist who says “this is not nature’s revenge, we did it to ourselves”.

Scientists are discovering two to four new viruses are created every year as a result of human infringement on the natural world, and any one of those could turn into a pandemic, according to Thomas Lovejoy, who coined the term “biological diversity” in 1980 and is often referred to as the godfather of biodiversity.

“This pandemic is the consequence of our persistent and excessive intrusion in nature and the vast illegal wildlife trade, and in particular, the wildlife markets, the wet markets, of south Asia and bush meat markets of Africa… It’s pretty obvious, it was just a matter of time before something like this was going to happen,” said Lovejoy, a senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation and professor of environment science at George Mason University.
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Wet markets are traditional markets selling live animals (farmed and wild) as well as fresh fruit, vegetables and fish, often in unhygienic conditions. They are found all over Africa and Asia, providing sustenance for hundreds of millions of people. The wet market in Wuhan believed to be the source of Covid-19 contained a number of wild animals, including foxes, rats, squirrels, wolf pups and salamanders.

I believe scientists have been warning us about this for many years.

KY.............

(cross-posted to GD)

[AnnieBW]

1. We did it to ourselves

People who work with various spirits (shamans, healers, visionaries, etc) have all gotten the same message from the Others. "We tried to warn you, but you did it to yourselves".

[demosincebirth]

2. This is what Bill Maher was saying on his show, Friday

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/25/ourselves-scientist-says-human-intrusion-nature-pandemic-aoe

[Warpy]

3. Well, yeah, except rich Asians with jaded palates

have been eating exotic animals and folk medicine has been using other parts of their bodies for centuries, if not millennia. The virus was just ready to make a move, which is why it did so in two widely separated places, Middle East and China with SARS and MERS, about 17 years ago.

The only thing that might have mitigated this outbreak would have been following up that prototype SARS vaccine with large scale testing so that it was ready to go into production as quickly as possible. Since SARS-Co2 is 80% similar, that vaccine might have been enough to decrease the severity of the illnesses we're seeing now.

At least Asia is building upward instead of sprawling outward, suburbia eating up arable land in the process.

[Las Vegas Mixx]

4. Every Disaster Movie ...