Changing our habits will help prevent pandemics

Re Will COVID-19 derail Canada’s action on climate change? April 25

Chantal Hébert reminds us that, in 2008, Canadians voted to bolster an economy based on fossil-fuel extraction at the expense of action on climate change.

Twelve years later, we are living a consequence of that neglect in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2018, as reported by the Star, Canadians produced 22 tonnes of greenhouse gas per year per capita, highest of all G20 members and nearly three times the G20 average of eight tonnes.

In spite of our commitment to lower our emissions, they continue to rise.

As Canada significantly contributes to global warming, it is our responsibility to mitigate the many ills that follow from a planet heating up.

According to the WHO, seven million people die annually because of air pollution, and a link between death from COVID-19 for those who live in areas of high air pollution has been already established.

Wildlife shares with us the stresses that assault our immune defences. Add to air pollution, the toxins in the environment and the loss of habitat, is there any wonder at their inability to fight disease? With ever greater proximity between humans and animals, diseases are bound to spread between species: Lyme, SARS, Ebola, COVID-19 ….

Imagine our economy with a 20-year headstart on the development of renewables.

Prevention, as we hear daily, is the best medicine.

How we deal with the current health and economic crisis, and those to follow, may very well have to do with how we choose to do business in the future.