Love in the Time of Ebola

Overpopulation, ecosystem loss, climate change, and Ebola itself are all growing exponentially. The human family must come together now to stop Ebola in West Africa or risk a global pandemic that could potentially kill millions – even as we commit post-Ebola to solving with greater equity and justice the disease’s root causes of rainforest loss, poverty, war and overpopulation.


Deep ecology essay from Dr. Glen Barry, EcoInternet

Take Action! Demand More Aid to Africa to Stop Epidemic at Its Source

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is doubling every 20 days, killing 70% of those infected. We are approaching a total of 10,000 official infections, though the actual number is almost certainly much higher. At this rate of growth, we can expect 10,000 new cases a week in December, with a far greater chance of the disease spreading internationally. It is clear that if Ebola is not stopped in Africa in the coming months, it will never be kept from Europe, America, and the rest of the world.

Despite some success containing the disease at its periphery, all who love the human family and Earth understand that avoiding a global pandemic depends upon the international community marshaling resources and rushing into the Ebola maelstrom to decisively stop it at its source. Efforts from the US military sending troops for logistical support, Cuba sending doctors, and Doctors Without Borders taking the lead in treatment and stopping infection are commendable but are too little and haphazard.

We have under two months to stop the deadly Ebola virus from – well, going viral. We must stop bickering, roll up our sleeves, and rush into the fire. Doing so will require massive amounts of aid, as only 1/3 of the initial $1 billion necessary to fight Ebola in Africa has been raised. Western democracies have plenty of money to wage perma-war but apparently meager funds and few doctors to avoid global pandemic. This is a shocking betrayal of international security by the world’s nations, and must not be tolerated. (You can take action with my organization EcoInternet to demand more Ebola aid.) [1].

Ebola’s real threat lies in its exponential growth and virulence, unleashed by overpopulated, sick ecosystems. Ebola is emblematic of the types of natural responses we can expect as planetary boundaries including the loss of terrestrial ecosystem are surpassed. As long as Ebola rages in Africa, no one in the world is safe from the threat of global pandemic.

More...

Ebola a Symptom of Ecological and Social Collapse

The global environment is collapsing and dying under the weight of inequitable over-population and ecosystem loss.

“We learn the meaning of enough and how to share or it is the end of being.” ― Dr. Glen Barry

Ebola is ecosystem collapse

The surging Ebola epidemic is the result of broad-based ecological and social collapse including rainforest loss, over-population, poverty and war. This preventable environmental and human tragedy demonstrates the extent to which the world has gone dramatically wrong; as ecosystem collapse, inequity, grotesque injustice, religious extremism, nationalistic militarism, and resurgent authoritarianism threaten our species and planet’s very being.

Any humane person is appalled by the escalating Ebola crisis, and let’s be clear expressing these concerns regarding causation is NOT an attempt to hijack a tragedy. Things happen for a reason, and Ebola was preventable, and future catastrophes of potentially greater magnitude can be foreseen and avoided by the truth.

The single greatest truth underlying the Ebola tragedy is that humanity is systematically dismantling the ecosystems that make Earth habitable. In particular, the potential for Ebola outbreaks and threats from other emergent diseases is made worse by cutting down forests [1]. Exponentially growing human populations and consumption – be it subsistence agriculture or mining for luxury consumer items – are pushing deeper into African old-growth forests where Ebola circulated before spillover into humans.

Read more...