Read on Twitter
When are we going to start talking about the fact that this pandemic was caused by eating animals? If it’s not this zoonotic disease, it will be the next one. Maybe we should start talking about stopping factory farming, wet markets, 
animal consumption & prevent the next one.
animal consumption & prevent the next one.
A great read from @derekberes — who is not biased (like me!) because he is not vegan.
https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/coronavirus-factory-farms
https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/coronavirus-factory-farms
Top experts in nutrition, health policy, environmental policy, infectious diseases, global economics contributed to the amazing work at EAT Lancet Commission and stated the following:
https://eatforum.org/learn-and-discover/no-protection-from-pandemics-unless-we-fix-our-food-systems/
https://eatforum.org/learn-and-discover/no-protection-from-pandemics-unless-we-fix-our-food-systems/
“We see clear signs of dangerous vicious cycles, threatening social stability, with food as part of the cause and as an effect multiplier. The pandemic thereby exposes a fundamental fact: Resilient recovery from Covid-19 can only be achieved by radically transforming our food
systems. Infectious disease outbreaks due to virus spill-overs from animals to humans have increased over the past 20 years, from SARS, to Ebola and MERS, and now Covid-19. That increase has followed the pace of our continued expansion of food production into natural wildlife
habitats, along with bush-meat and wet market trade, intensified factory farming, and other factors. Zoonotic diseases between 2000 and 2010 caused economic losses of more than $200 billion. This pales in comparison with the cost of the current pandemic, which could set back
the global economy by as much as USD 82 trillion in the next five years according to a worst case estimate by Cambridge University.[3] As the pressure on nature increases, the risk of new and potentially far more dangerous pandemics is growing. Climate change makes the situation
even more dire. Compounding the problem, inequality in access to adequate incomes, quality nutrition and health care undermines our ability to protect the most vulnerable and mount an effective pandemic response.” Open letter to the G20 from the EAT Advisory Board.
And important: I am NOT in the opinion that everyone has to go vegan. I don’t think that’s realistic and I would never expect that. But I think shifting conversations to focus on why eating a more *plant-forward* diet is important for both public & planetary health is beneficial.
I am OF the opinion that lab grown meat will be a solution of the future. For those who want to eat meat: in a sustainable way that helps to optimize planetary health. Looking forward to developments in this space. Follow @RyanBethencourt for more on this!
Also a fantastic and well done piece in @nytimes
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/opinion/coronavirus-meat-vegetarianism.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/opinion/coronavirus-meat-vegetarianism.html
And changes in animal AG & wet markets need to happen everywhere - including the US which has plenty - NYC alone has over 70 wet markets. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-pandemic-animal-wet-market-new-york-city-protests/
And we have certainly also been the origin of zoonotic disease! http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article200880539.html
