Some Asian countries have effectively contained the disease, while others have dramatically failed. What’s behind the differences?
Pandemic responses
Archive | Health threats
Agrochemical pollution
Pesticides speed the spread of deadly parasites
Even low concentrations of pesticides can increase transmission and weaken efforts to control the second most common parasitic disease
Lockdown reading
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, Pandemic Edition (July 2020)
A special edition of Ecosocialist Bookshelf: six books we recommend for understanding the deadliest global health crisis of our time
Break Neoliberalism
A Ten-Point Agenda for the Global South After COVID-19
Neoliberalism has driven the the world system into a cul-de-sac. The Global South must lead in building a new international economic order
New Study
Deadly combinations of heat and humidity increasing worldwide
‘Previous studies projected that this would happen several decades from now, but this shows it’s happening right now’
Interview with Fred Magdoff
Pandemic: ‘This is a time for bold programs from the left’
Covid-19 exposes capitalism’s gross inability to meet human needs. We must demand immediate measures to help people survive and recover.
Our Viral Future
Covid-19: Will Big Oil emerge more powerful than ever?
Oil companies face severe problems now, but in the long run the industry giants may be bigger and even more dangerous to life on Earth.
Pandemic
Pulverized: Capitalism, Africa and Covid-19
In the Global North it is a ‘novel threat.’ In the South, it extends the common experience of brutal assaults accompanied by waves of illness and death
Superbugs in the air
Burned or buried, garbage spreads antibiotic resistance
New research shows that breathing near a site where trash is burned or buried may be dangerous to your health.
Global crisis
Ecosocialism or barbarism: African journal interviews C&C editor Ian Angus
“A conscious and collective struggle to stop capitalism’s hell-bound train is our only hope for a better world.”
Ecosocialists report from Manila
Philippines: A weak but authoritarian state confronts Covid-19
Instead of providing testing and basic care, the Duterte regime is attacking the poor. Cuba and Vietnam offer examples to emulate.
Our burning Earth
By 2100, heat stress may affect over 1.2 billion people a year
Study highlights combined effects of extreme heat and humidity, which are especially dangerous to human health
Agribusiness kills
Capitalist agriculture and Covid-19: A deadly combination
A socialist biologist explains the tight links between new viruses, industrial food production, and the profitability of multinational corporations.
Industrial Disease
Coronavirus: Agribusiness breeds another deadly epidemic
Once again, authorities are scrambling to deal with a fast-spreading disease after the fact, while the systemic causes remain in place.
Metabolic Rift
Climate change and overfishing boost toxic mercury levels in fish
Rising ocean temperatures are amplifying the accumulation of neurotoxins in fish that are often eaten by humans
Reading Matters
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, October 2019
New books for reds and greens. Climate Change Guide; After Geoengineering; Environment & Health; Canada’s Climate Failure; Whose Water is it? Air Travel.
BOOK REVIEW
The Fight Against Monsanto’s Roundup
Activists make the case that this widely used pesticide is wreaking havoc on the earth, killing not just weeds but multiple species, including our own
Reading matters
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, July 2019
More books for reds and greens. Vanishing Fish … Between Earth and Empire … Making Rojava Green … One Planet, One Health … Why Carbon Trading Fails
Book Review
Confronting the rising tide of marine disease
Warming the climate and polluting the sea is leading to explosive outbreaks of new infectious diseases
Metabolic Crisis
Superbugs in the Anthropocene: A Profit-Driven Plague
The promise of a world without disease has been replaced by warnings of evermore virulent pathogens, created by the drugs that were supposed to save us.