The Planet Needs Protection From Pandemics and Other Dilemmas

 

Speciesism, the exploitation of non-humans by humans, is the cause of zoonotic disease and other dilemmas.  Zoonotic disease, which causes epidemics and pandemics, is from human – animal interaction.  The most serious infectious diseases are zoonotic, causing an estimated 3 million human deaths per year even before Covid-19.  Emerging diseases are invariably zoonotic: Covid-19, HIV, Ebola, SARS, MERS, Swine and Avian Flu, etc.  Without understanding the creation and spread of zoonoses and the cause of other major issues – Speciesism, and rectifying it with an enforceable international law, it is impossible to prevent the next pandemic and other issues, such as: 

 

Climate Change:  Scientific facts prove that the main cause of global warming melting polar ice caps and raising sea water levels is methane.  Methane traps heat in the atmosphere more effectively than carbon dioxide.  The meat and dairy based diet is directly responsible for the impending disaster we are currently facing. 

 

Hunger:  Land used to grow crops to feed animals killed for food, could be used to grow crops to feed people.  This would significantly reduce world hunger especially in developing nations which export crops while experiencing hunger.

 

Human Health Mortality and Morbidity:  There is copious documentation that transitioning from the traditional fiber rich plant-based diet to the fat and cholesterol filled meat and dairy based diet causes human mortality and morbidity from heart disease, cancer, diabetes and antibiotic resistance. 

 

Pollution: Air, water, and land pollution is a direct result of animal agriculture.  In the United States, animal agriculture produces more pollution than all other industries combined.

 

Misuse of scarce resources: Land and water are being used unsustainably. Rainforests are cut and burned down to provide grazing land and land, and to grow crops to feed to animals raised for food.  It takes a hundred times more water to produce meat than vegetables.

 

Species extinction and Habitat Destruction:  As animal agriculture grows, it needs more and more resources of land and water, destroying the habitats of existing species and causing extinction of irreplaceable individuals.

 

Justice:  Speciesism is unjust, unsustainable and destructive.  It is treating animals as slaves of humans.  The unfortunate individuals, who are eaten, used for clothing, experiments, and entertainment, have no rights of their own.  As you know from the past, the individuals kidnapped in Africa, and forced to be slaves, did not want to be treated better, they wanted to be free and have rights.  This is true not just for humans, but for all species.  The world needs a United Nations Convention Against Speciesism.  www.VeganInternational.org