• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Earth Wise

A look at our changing environment.

  • Home
  • About Earth Wise
  • Where to Listen
  • All Articles
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / Podcast / Livestock Expansion And Global Pandemics | Earth Wise

Livestock Expansion And Global Pandemics | Earth Wise

August 18, 2020 By EarthWise 1 Comment

Livestock expansion a factor in pandemics

The domestication of cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals as livestock for their meat, milk, and eggs was historically revolutionary.  It boosted food security by giving people a readily-available means of feeding themselves as opposed to more traditional methods such as hunting and fishing. 

But animal agriculture has plenty of drawbacks.  The industrialization of animal agriculture has led to horrendous conditions.  Animals are kept in huge quantities and packed together with little regard for their health and welfare.  This approach to agriculture is simply designed to maximize production while minimizing costs. 

With its chemical inputs and toxic outputs, intensive animal agriculture is also a major threat to the environment.  In fact, it’s a major driver of habitat degradation and biodiversity loss all around the globe.   

But it’s not just animals and the planet that pay a price.  Humans have inherited several lethal pathogens from livestock over the years, including the influenza virus that likely jumped to humans from poultry.

According to a study recently published in Biological Conservation,  there is a connection between the global increase in the emergence of infectious diseases and epidemics, the accelerated loss of biodiversity, and the expansion of livestock.  In the study, the research team from the Institute of Evolution Sciences of Montpellier cross referenced databases on human and animal health, livestock expansion, and biodiversity loss between 1960-2019.  The team found that the number of epidemics identified in humans increased in correlation with both biodiversity loss and livestock expansion. 

In the era of COVID-19, it’s important to understand how global livestock expansion directly threatens both human health and the health of the planet. 

**********   

Web Links

Livestock expansion is a factor in global pandemics

Photo, posted July 22, 2018, courtesy of Artem Beliakin via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Tagged With: agriculture, animal agriculture, animal health, animals, biodiversity loss, biological conservation, chemicals, Climate Change, costs, covid-19, eggs, environment, epidemics, expansion, factory farming, feeding, food, globe, habitat loss, Health, human health, hunting, infectious disease, influenza, lethal, livestock, livestock expansion, meat, milk, pandemics, pathogens, planet, production, security, toxic

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Peter S. Barrett says

    August 18, 2020 at 6:24 pm

    I would love to be able to get a printed transcript of today’s Earth Wise. Is that possible?
    Thank you so much for a really great program that addresses so many important issues!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Episodes

  • Protected Areas Are Not Protecting Insects | Earth Wise
  • Self-Deicing Roads | Earth Wise
  • Sea Level Rise And Global Security | Earth Wise
  • Keeping The Keeling Curve Going | Earth Wise
  • Great Salt Lake In Danger | Earth Wise

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)

Copyright © 2023 ·