ACCORDING to experts, a worldwide pandemic such as coronavirus or some other respiratory disease is inevitable. As increasing populations becoming more mobile, escaping wars, drought and hunger, the likelihood of a highly infectious disease decimating the world’s population is no longer a likelihood but a certainty.

The coronavirus has already hit oil prices and the stock market, decimated China’s output and no doubt will have a domino effect on other Asian countries, and this is just the beginning. In the seventies it was argued that the Earth is a giant organism with an ability to self-regulate its highly complex chemical and meteorological system. Seeing the world through this prism demotes humanity to that of ingenious parasites.

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As most parasitologists will tell you, there is no future in killing a host especially if there is only one host left to infect. The economics of growth is not sustainable and directly contributes to global warming.

Unless we act quickly to curb industrial excesses and reduce emissions, the future of the earth may rest within the molecular structure and DNA of a coronavirus.

Mike Herd
Highland