We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Reducing Future Pandemic Risk Through Consumer Awareness
Summary
This opinion piece connects uninformed consumer behavior, biodiversity loss, and pandemic risk, arguing that reducing environmental disruption requires greater public awareness. It is not a primary research study on microplastics but touches on broader plastic pollution as one driver of environmental harm.
India is presently grappling with COVID 19, Cyclone Amphan and Locust attacks.Last year was the second hottest year on Earth and May 2020 the hottest recorded May, according to NASA.The rapidly heating earth results in biodiversity loss and vice-versa.The paper presents existing evidence on how uninformed human action directly impacts biodiversity and therefore make zoonotic diseases, like COVID 19, more frequent and devastating.The objective is to provoke individuals to take ownership of making the planet safer for their own survival, by making informed choices about services and products they consume.Two everyday items of use-food and palm oil, are used as case studies to understand how individual choices impact people and planet.The paper also appeals for the use of knowledge/awareness to reduce single-use plastic, which has reached unprecedented levels due to COVID 19, causing irreversible ecological damage.The paper ends with thoughts on over-consumption and the need for frugality.