A Message from the Executive Director:
The Covid-19 pandemic was predictable, and predicted. As this article makes clear, infectious diseases have been on the rise in recent decades, especially those pathogens like coronaviruses that cross over from animals to humans. In large part this has happened because humans have increased their contact with wild animals through the destruction of natural habitats and the trade in wildlife. The emergence of pandemics like Covid-19 has been predicted by many people over a long period of time. (See Laurie Garrett's landmark 1995 book The Coming Plague.) Covid-19 will not be the last pandemic either, unless we get serious about the problem.
Looking forward, what can we do? Beyond the necessary and immediate emergency response, we need to tackle the root causes. The health of people is inextricably linked to the health of the planet. We can’t afford to continue to act like nature doesn’t matter. One bold proposal that would address the climate crisis, the ongoing mass extinction of wildlife, and reduce the likelihood of future pandemics is the Global Deal for Nature that calls for protecting 30 percent of the earth’s surface by 2030, increasing to 50 percent by 2050, as nature preserves where the conservation of wild nature comes first. In the U.S., Senators Michael Bennet (CO) and Tom Udall (NM) have introduced a resolution to implement this proposal. These are the kinds of bold solutions we need to match the scale of the threats we—and the planet—are facing.
With your support, the Southwest Environmental Center will keep working to protect wildlife and wild places in the Southwest. (One easy way to help right now is to buy a ticket in our Prius raffle.)
In the meantime, we encourage you as much as possible to take the opportunity to reconnect with loved ones and nature. And we offer you this beautiful poem by the poet Pablo Neruda as a little bit of solace in these unquiet times.
(Thanks to our friends at the Center for Biological Diversity for sharing the poem.)
Wishing you good health,
Kevin Bixby
Executive Director
For more details of each event, see https://www.wildmesquite.org/what-we-do/education-sustainable-society/Back-by-Noon.
