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Today, we enter phase yellow and the beginning of returning to “normal”. It is also National Endangered Species Day. It is not a day of celebration but of recognition that in Pennsylvania we, as good stewards, know we have 11 of 71 native mammals extinct. We also know we have 22 endangered and 7 threatened birds and animals, 15 endangered and 28 threatened fish and 6 reptiles and amphibians endangered and 5 that are threatened.
The cause for these losses are varied but pollution and loss of habitat are two of the main reasons.
What does a loss of these creatures mean; lost crops in our fields and gardens, lost revenue in tourism and recreation and possibly a new and deadly virus like the COVID-19?
I learned a new word this week- Zoonotic. A zoonotic disease is an infectious disease caused by an infectious agent such as a bacteria, or virus that jumped from a non-human animal to a human. This happened with SARS, Swine Flu, EBOLA and now COVID-19. These are often triggered by human destruction and exploitation of wildlife habitats.
For weeks we hear there will be a new “normal.” We have clearly demonstrated that we need a plan. The loss of life, the loss of jobs and businesses are too great to continue without recognizing that something needs to change. We need to accept the fact that we, humans, are part of a biodiverse ecology and as such we have an obligation to help maintain that diversity. We have seen that when you have an encroaching human footprint, through urbanization, road networks, deforestation, extractive industries like logging, mining and fracking you have all of the ingredients for a virus spillover recipe. A theory known as the “ecology of disease” holds that increasing encroachment into biodiverse ecosystems creates situations where species interact with humans in novel, intimate and ultimately dangerous ways.
We have the opportunity to do it right, to create a better “normal.” As we start the economy back up, as we go to work, we should take a breath and recognize COVID-19 is very clearly showing us that the top of the picking order is not us, but nature. We have a responsibility to ourselves and all living creators to do our best to keep the system in balance. The destruction of wildlife habitat, the pollution of air, water and soil invites the next pandemic. As we start to create and adapt to the new normal one of the paths we should follow for our survival is biodiversity. There is a link between how we treat our environment-the air, water and soil, and our wellbeing. This link impacts our health. We need to consider the environment today for our future so we do not become an endangered species.
John Detisch is a national director of the Izaak Walton League and a resident of New Salem