Shah and scientists she writes about have been warning the public for years of the mounting risk of a pandemic like Covid-19 and the ways in which our treatment of animals and our planet can cause unseen, but deadly, consequences. But this coronavirus was no black swan to the scientists and journalists - including our guest, investigative journalist Sonia Shah - who were paying attention to the environmental, social, and political conditions that fuel the eruption and spread of infectious diseases. In recent weeks, as Covid-19 has killed thousands, brought public life to a standstill and crippled global markets, the pandemic has been called a “black swan,” a term investors use to describe severe events that are unpredictable and extremely rare. It’s populations of warm-blooded primates: The true animal source is us.” Photo by Glenford Nuñez. It’s not some spiky scaled pangolin or furry flying bat. In the end, there is no real mystery about the animal source of pandemics. “But pandemics only remain optional if we have the will to disrupt our politics as readily as we disrupt nature and wildlife. “The epidemiologist Larry Brilliant once said, ‘Outbreaks are inevitable, but pandemics are optional,'” science journalist Sonia Shah recently wrote in The Nation.
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