Do you miss a subject, a perspective or would you like to write an article for this site? Contact us!
- Wisdom demands a new orientation of science and technology towards the organic, the gentle, the non-violent, the elegant and beautiful. E.F. Schumacher
Latest
We are pleased to join forces with @BlueCurrentNL to help foster our #LeadInGreen strategy and add more value to the #eMobility market across #Europe. #YouDriveWeCare #Mobility #Electric #Sustainability #Transport #Logistics pic.twitter.com/alL1YJaENL
31 seconden geleden op DKV Mobility's Twitter via Twitter Web App
What is the #circulareconomy really about? You have probably heard the term and after ten seconds the word ‘waste’ has popped up. It is actually more exciting than that: it’s about #design! Imagine, design and create the future that you want to see 💫 Are you in? Join us 👇 twitter.com/circulareconom…
35 seconden geleden op Anna Queralt's Twitter via Twitter for iPhone
.@hexpolTPE at GRIPS 2021 bit.ly/2NZILSx #TPE #Materials #CircularEconomy pic.twitter.com/wFtpYLJObF
52 seconden geleden op EPPM Magazine's Twitter via Twitter Web App
@BIERoundtable @KimMarotta @MolsonCoors Good job @KimMarotta and @MolsonCoors -excellent work. Another example of how @BIERoundtable members push #sustainability and #environmental issues forward
Ongeveer een minuut geleden op Paul Bowen's Twitter via Twitter for iPhone
Meet Carson all ready for #worldbookday2021 with his favourite book 'turtle trouble' His outfit is fully recycled using different materials 💚♻️ Thank you for sharing this with us! We absolutely love this! #slowfashionmovement #sustainability #gibraltar #trendsetter pic.twitter.com/wxzH8IrXex
Ongeveer 2 minuten geleden op The Nautilus Project's Twitter via Twitter for Android
Great event on Green Chemistry, Biotechnology and Digitalisation! #biobased #renewablecarbon #bioeconomy #chemistry lnkd.in/gfD27Fe
Ongeveer 2 minuten geleden op Michael Carus's Twitter via LinkedIn
Indonesia could soon emerge as a leader in the global EV market, not just in Asia but worldwide 🌏 The island nation has access to more than a quarter of the world's nickel, a key component of EV batteries #ElectricVehicles #EV #Sustainability #SustainableDesign #Cars pic.twitter.com/yvjUrXUu4x
Ongeveer 2 minuten geleden op WorldEVDay's Twitter via ContentCal Studio
MedTech Conference webinar... @LifeSciencesBC says&shows..#technology #Canada #SDG #BigData #innovation #healthcare #investments #sustainable #biotech #lifesciences_bc #Bioalberta #BioscienceMB youtu.be/JJHRoqNNwm4 pic.twitter.com/500hS5lSP0
Ongeveer 2 minuten geleden op MUST Investment News's Twitter via Twitter for iPhone
More than 600 people, from 47 different countries, attended our European Forum this morning! Topics such as #Circulareconomy and #productpassport were covered. We were honoured by the presence of the EU officials, Ilias Iakovidis, William Neale and Michele Galatola! pic.twitter.com/gEstoFmalZ
Ongeveer 2 minuten geleden op GS1 in Europe's Twitter via Twitter Web App
RT @tracrep: Sustainable Travel Hacks #001 #sustainabletravel #travel #responsibletravel #sustainabletourism #ecotravel #ecotourism #wanderlust #adventure #responsibletourism #instatravel #travelgram #sustainability #slowtravel #travelphotography #nature… pic.twitter.com/YmFdFGmTJ9
Ongeveer 3 minuten geleden op Slow Travel Guide's Twitter via IFTTT
Pandemics: prevention is better than cure
Our lifestyle greatly promotes the outbreak of pandemics like Covid-19, and this could have devastating consequences. Unless we take action. Says a new report by IPBES, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Policy measures are required.
Wet markets (here: in Singapore) are locations where viruses can migrate from animals to human beings. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
An era of pandemics
Pandemics are a modern phenomenon. Large trade networks facilitate a rapid diffusion of illnesses. A pathogenic organism, once having come to the surface, can therefore infect mankind as a whole. Pandemics like Covid-19 originate when the pathogen jumps from animal to human being. That has always occurred, but it happens more often now. People and animals are in closer contact with each other now through factors like clearing natural areas for agriculture, an increase in the trade in wild animals, and climate change. And once inside society, the pathogen is transmitted to many more people than before.
We can witness these phenomena already with the first pandemic in modern times, the Spanish flu that broke out at the end of the First World War. The name ‘Spanish flu’ is misleading; it originated because the illness was first reported in the uncensored Spanish press (that covered among others the grave condition of king Alfonso XIII). The virus (H1N1, in modern terms) may have been transmitted from animal to man in China or in Kansas (US). Whatever its origin, it was transported to Europe by American troops. Remarkable about the Spanish flu was that its main victims were young adults. The illness showed itself in high fever that reminded of an intense flu, often with deadly consequences. It took almost as many lives of American soldiers as the actual theatre of war. American soldiers transmitted the illness to other troops, including German ones. As the war ended on November 11, 1918, soldiers returned to their home towns and were greeted with festivities. In such mass gatherings, the virus spread quickly. It is estimated that half a billion people were infected (20% of the global population) and that up to 40 million people may have died. Celebrities also died from the disease, among them Max Weber, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Guillaume Apollinaire.
Spanish flu epidemic in United States. St. Louis, Missouri, Red Cross Motor Corps on duty, October 1918. (National Archives)
Undiscovered viruses
Infections are ever more likely to grow into pandemics. According to Peter Daszak, co-author of the IPBES report, Covid-19 is at least the sixth global health disaster since the 1918 flu pandemic. Remember SARS, Ebola, Zika and hiv/aids. According to Scientias.nl. Festivities around soldiers returning home have been substituted by worldwide passenger travel. In the case of Covid-19, one single barman in Ischgl (Austria), having returned from China, contaminated most skiers gathering for their après-ski, and these on returning home contaminated many in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant during the carnival festivities. Infectious viruses can spread more easily than ever. For although Covid-19 has temporarily restricted international travel and trade, doing business internationally requires personal contact. And the airlines and the tourist sector cannot wait to restore business-as-usual once the present pandemic has been more or less conquered.
Meanwhile, there is much potential for infection. The IPBES report mentions some 1.7 million ‘undiscovered’ viruses living in mammals and birds. Half of them might be infectious to people. We should not restrict ourselves to fighting the disease once it has broken out. ‘In order to escape from the era of pandemics,’ says Daszak, ‘we should concentrate more on prevention and not just on reaction.’ Just common sense. But in case this wouldn’t be convincing, the authors also mention the economic effects. ‘We estimate pandemics to cost about 1 trillion dollars per year,’ Daszak says. ‘But programs required to reduce deforestation and the trade in wild animals would just cost 20 to 30 billion dollars yearly.’
Protect biodiversity
Pandemics originate where wild animals, cattle and human beings meet. In order to reduce the risk of pandemics, we should reduce the incidence of such contacts. Better protect highly biodiverse areas, and reduce their economic exploitation. We have set in motion the forces that promote such exploitation – and now we will have to change into the opposite direction. More precisely speaking, we could do the following:
– conclude international agreements on biodiversity protection, backed up by the creation of new international bodies and by scientific research;
– prepare for possible pandemics;
– have an eye on the costs of pandemics in official policies and reformulate support programs;
– tax clearly pandemic-risky activities, like eating meat;
– tackle the trade in wild animals and take measures against illegal trading;
– improve food supply, also in order to reduce the consumption of wild animals.
If we don’t do this, Daszak says, we might find ourselves in the middle of a pandemic again and again. Resulting in a semi-permanent world-wide recession and innumerable deaths. We therefore have to strike while the iron is hot. We will have to act now.
Interesting? Then also read:
Don’t waste the corona crisis
IPBES and after: do we need to fear global ecosystem decline?
Can we engineer life? Planetary boundaries
on: 3 December 2020