Jane Goodall has warned that humanity needs to drastically change our food system. The primatologist said that if our behaviours do not change in light of the climate crisis and COVID-19 pandemic, the human race will be ‘finished’.
‘We have brought this on ourselves because of our absolute disrespect for animals and the environment. Our disrespect for wild animals and our disrespect for farmed animals has created this situation where disease can spill over to infect human beings,’ said Goodall according to The Guardian.
She was speaking at an online event organised by Compassion in World Farming.
Goodall stressed that humans need to move away from factory farming and to stop destroying natural habitats and ecosystems. The threat of our climate collapsing and the emergence of more diseases is inevitable if something isn’t done.
‘If we do not do things differently, we are finished. We can’t go on very much longer like this.’
Goodall explained that there is only so much time left for something to be done.
‘We have come to a turning point in our relationship with the natural world. One of the lessons learnt from this crisis is that we must change our ways. Scientists warn that to avoid future crises, we must drastically change our diets and move to plant-rich foods. For the sake of the animals, planet and the health of our children.’
“Of course we’re not the only beings with personalities, minds and emotions, we don’t stand separated from animals, it’s by degree” – @JGIBelgium #JGoodallOnPandemics pic.twitter.com/5RjZYtNNc9
— Compassion in World Farming EU (@CIWF_EU) June 2, 2020
The coronavirus is believed to have jumped from animals to humans toward the end of 2019. The consumption of pangolins are thought to be the cause but scientists have not definitively traced the origin. The world’s pangolin species range from vulnerable to critically endangered on the IUCN’s Red List.
Goodall believes the COVID-19 pandemic is a result of the global disregard for nature.
In April Goodall spoke out on how humanity is to blame for the pandemic: ‘It is our disregard for nature and our disrespect of the animals we should share the planet with that has caused this pandemic,’ Goodall says, according to AFP. ‘It was predicted that this was going to happen and it’s going to happen again until we learn the lessons,’ warned Goodall.
Image credit: Instagram/ janegoodallinst
