How the COVID-19 pandemic is related to climate change.

The COVID-19 virus initially spread from Wuhan, China and was soon termed as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Since then, everyone has been stuck at home, wearing masks when leaving the house and recently, getting vaccines.

The good news is that, hopefully this pandemic will end soon. The bad news, however, is that we are going to have many more viruses emerging. The viruses that will emerge are zoonotic diseases, like COVID-19.

Diseases spread from animals to humans are known as zoonotic diseases, such as: Ebola, Rabies, HIV etc. These diseases can have various causes of spread, however the most obvious one is direct contact between humans and animals.

Climate change and global warming have a huge impact on the increase of this type of diseases. Deforestation, forest fires, and destruction of animal habitats leads animals to go searching for food and other habitat. This clearly increases chances of contact between animals and humans.

There’s another good news: we can prevent future pandemics. But it’s only possible if the measures are applied globally. We have to reduce our overall consumption of nature’s resources and drastically reduce deforestation to avoid contact with animals. We have to invest in research and preparation to protect as many people as possible. Wildlife trading also has to be reduced because it increases contact among animals, increasing chances of diseases spreading.

There are a lot of reasons to care about global warming and climate change. For those who don’t have a personal reason yet, this is it. We’ve experienced a pandemic as a warning sign to take care of nature. If we don’t start now, this can and will affect public health.

I wouldn’t have learned about this connection with health if it weren’t for a ted talk. Let’s spread awareness because it makes a difference.

Link: https://youtu.be/O8pLpe3FkWs