Reflections on COVID-19, Biodiversity and Spirituality

by Alan S. Cajes[1]

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic on March 11, 2020.[2] At that time, there were 118,000 confirmed cases, 4,291 deaths, and thousands of patients in health facilities. COVID-19 affected 114 out of 195 countries.

   On March 16, 2020, the Philippine Government declared a national state of calamity due to COVID-19. Late afternoon of the same day, the government placed the entire island of Luzon under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) starting 12:00 a.m. of March 17, 2020 until 12:00 a.m. of April 13, 2020.[3] Starting on the same day, the rest of the provincial and municipal local government units (LGUs) nationwide imposed their respective community quarantine policies, regulations, and protocols.

   The ECQ simply means that people stay at their homes. A designated household member is allowed to buy food and medicine subject to the issuance of a quarantine pass by their respective barangay LGUs. The ECQ also suspended the operation of mass public land transportation. Thus, workers from both the public and private sectors, except those who are involved in the delivery of basic utilities and critical services, adopt a work from home scheme. Some organizations have skeletal forces to process transactions that could only be performed at the workplace.

   As of 21 April 2020, the Philippines registered a total of 6,599 confirmed cases, 654 cases of recovery, and 437 deaths. Globally, the total confirmed cases reached 2,557,181 affecting almost all countries in the world. About 177,641 persons have succumbed to COVID-19.[4]

The Origin[5]

   The WHO became aware of pneumonia patients in Wuhan City, Hubei, China on December 31, 2019. On January 7, 2020, Chinese authorities linked the pneumonia cases to a new coronavirus (COVID-19), which can be transmitted by one person to another. Although the virus was identified using samples from a Wuhan market that sold live animals, the animal origin of the COVID-19 could not be ascertained at that time, unlike other coronaviruses, such as SARS and MERS, which are zoonotic.

   On January 20, a 38-year old female Chinese national was reported as the first case of COVID-19 in the Philippines. Her 44-year old companion, a male Chinese national died on February 1 due to COVID-19. The third case, a 60-year old female, Chinese national, was reported on February 5. These three cases visited Wuhan.  The first and third cases returned to China after they have recovered.

   On March 6, the fourth case, who had a travel history to Japan, was confirmed. Japan reported 420 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on March 7. The fifth and sixth cases were considered local transmissions since they did not travel outside of the country. The seventh to ninth cases had travel history to countries that reported confirmed cases. The tenth case is considered as another local transmission.

Carriers of Coronaviruses

    The genome of the coronavirus has an RNA strand “of approximately 27-32 kb.”[6] Unlike DNA viruses, RNA viruses commit errors in the process of duplication. However, these viruses “mutate very rapidly,” thus could infect the cells of different species, e.g., animals and humans.[7] A particle of these viruses has “four structural proteins: the nulceaocapsid, envelope, membrane and spike.”[8] The spike looks like the corona of the sun; hence the name “coronavirus.”

    Bats, according to some researchers, may “harbor” coronaviruses because their immune system does not trigger a response; thus the coronaviruses can “hide” and then hop “from species to species”.[9] If COVID-19 transferred from animal species to humans through direct or indirect contact, then this type of coronavirus is zoonotic, i.e., carried by animals.[10]

 Preventing Coronavirus Infection

    The WHO recommends avoidance of direct and indirect contact through physical or social distancing, frequent and proper handwashing, etc. The use of vaccines is also another way of solving the COVID-19 problem, but the potential vaccines are still being developed in several laboratories worldwide. The long-term and perhaps the best antidote to viruses, including COVID-19, is nature itself.

    According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), zoonoses or diseases transmitted by animals to humans, such as sudden acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and coronavirus, “are all linked to human activity.”[11] UNEP’s scientists and specialists postulate that those viruses that the bats carry “emerged due to the loss of bat habitat from deforestation and agricultural expansion.”[12] Thus, COVID-19 would not have been transmitted if we, humans, just left the bats alone by preserving, and not encroaching on, their natural habitats.

 Causing Our Own Misfortune

    Just like all other species, bats play a key role in our ecological systems. They are predators of insects. They pollinate and disperse different species of plants. For instance, the durian fruit, which is considered as the king of fruits in Southeast Asia, is pollinated by “the island flying fox, a large species of bat.”[13]

    By degrading the habitats of bats, we are, in effect, reducing the productivity of our ecosystems, and helping the emergence of viruses – a sure-fire formula for compromising the future of our generation and the generations yet to come. As David Quammen explains: “We invade tropical forests and other wild landscapes, which harbor so many species of animals and plants — and within those creatures, so many unknown viruses. We cut the trees; we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets. We disrupt ecosystems, and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often, we are it.”[14] This is a grim reminder of what Sophocles said hundreds of years before the birth of Christ: the keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.

 Loss of Biodiversity and Divinity

   There is overwhelming evidence that human beings have damaged Planet Earth in catastrophic proportions. The Earth’s ecological systems are in jeopardy. The myriad water bodies are no longer teeming with fish and micro-organisms, but struggle to survive against humanity’s onslaught with pollution and toxic and hazardous wastes. The lands are no longer covered with pristine and diverse vegetation, but bear the brunt of the dominant species that prides itself with steel and concrete. The air is no longer the domain of the birds and the home of the clouds, but is the dark shroud that brings acid rain, powerful hurricanes, and destructive typhoons. As if these are not sufficient, man alters the climate and puts his survival, including that of billion other species, in serious and seemingly irreversible risk. Foul air, dirty water, depleted resources and global warming -- these are the costs and the consequences of the social, cultural, religious, economic, political and scientific achievements of the most intelligent of all species – Homo sapiens.

   Why are human beings capable of such horrendous and despicable evil? If we can build massive pyramids, tall buildings, gigantic ships, bullet trains, rocket ships, and giant computers, why can’t we maintain clean air, clean water, productive lands, and intact coral reefs and forests? If we are capable of great scientific and religious thought and deep wisdom, why can’t we keep God’s creation from desecration? If we are gifted with the power to commune with God and the Saints, why can’t we maintain a harmonious relationship with nature?

   Thomas Berry[15] traces the root of the environmental crisis to our alienation from a functioning universe or a cosmos. Human beings today live in a fragmented world. We live in communities, political factions, firms, associations, towns, cities, nations, civilizations, or cultural traditions. We cease to live in the world that God created. We live in a world that we have fashioned with our own hands. We cease to live in a world that has intrinsic worth. We exist in a world that has economic, financial or monetary value. We no longer live in a world that sustains life. We now live in a world that destroys life.

   Empirical and reductionist science accelerated the alienation of human beings from the cosmos. This approach effectively transformed nature into objects and commodities. As a realm of things, nature became an unchartered territory that we could study, conquer, exploit, and mold to satisfy our quest for betterment, progress or development.

   Seyyed Hossein Nasr[16] complemented Berry’s assessment by pointing out that the withering of consciousness has resulted in the reduction of the diverse levels of reality into a single level. Reality is reduced into elementary particles - quarks, leptons and bosons. The spiritual dimension has vanished. Science has generally caused the separation of spirit from matter. As a consequence, the logos, the consciousness or the spiritual reality of the old religions and mysticism has ceased to be the arche.

   This paradigm has deep and profound implications to man’s view and relationship with nature. The cosmos has lost its divine origin and character. It is simply matter and its forces. The theory of the big bang has been proven and has served as a dominant explanation about the beginning of the universe. With this, “in principio creavit Deus caelum et terram” is supplanted by “the universe expanded from an extremely dense and hot state and continues to expand today”. With God out of sight and out of the mind, religious truths and dogma have become valued artifacts in a Museum of Human Knowledge.

Way Forward

    The UNEP claims that rich biodiversity or ecosystem integrity “can help regulate diseases by supporting a diversity of species so that it is more difficult for one pathogen to spill over, amplify or dominate.”[17] That is why the “Berlin Principles” calls for “action to ensure the conservation and protection of biodiversity, which interwoven with intact and functional ecosystems provides the critical foundational infrastructure of life on our planet.”[18] Such argument is supported by the dilution effect theory which may be stated in this way: healthy ecosystems reduce diseases within a given ecosystem.[19]

    Francis Bacon once said that nature to be commanded must first be obeyed.[20] In our present reality, this simply means that we must live life within the planetary boundaries, especially the loss of biosphere integrity (biodiversity loss and extinctions).[21] Thus Sustainable Development Goal No. 15 (Life On Land) specifically calls for humanity to “sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss.”[22]

    Our indigenous communities understood the need to maintain a rich biodiversity as evidenced by their respect and reverence to nature. Our faith traditions are also clear about the value of maintaining the balance of nature through their respective teachings:

·       Buddhism: “"However innumerable beings are, I vow to save them."[23]

·       Christianity: "Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it."[24]

·       Confucianism: “"If the foundations of living are strengthened and are economically used, then Nature cannot bring impoverishment. But if the foundations of living are neglected and used extravagantly, then Nature cannot make the country rich.”[25]

·       Hinduism: “All living beings are sacred because they are parts of God, and should be treated with respect and compassion.”[26]

·       Islam: “Verily, all things have We created by measure; And We have produced therein everything in balance.”[27]

    As we embark on a post-new normal journey after creating the conditions for COVID-19, may we be guided by the wisdom of Pope Francis: “When we can see God reflected in all that exists, our hearts are moved to praise the Lord for all his creatures and to worship him in union with them. This sentiment finds magnificent expression in the hymn of Saint Francis of Assisi:

Praised be you, my Lord, with all your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
who is the day and through whom you give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour;
and bears a likeness of you, Most High.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather
through whom you give sustenance to your creatures.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Water,
who is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you light the night,
and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong”.[28]

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[1]Founding member, Sacred Springs: Dialogue Institute for Spirituality and Sustainability; Associate Member, National Research Council of the Philippines; Fellow, Development Academy of the Philippines

[2]World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 11 March 2020, https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020.

[3]The ECQ was later extended to April 30, 2020

[4]COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic, https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR13WwqweoKIJZw93r2VMBn9f_pmekxdPt71yD4b601Rrbn5iqgtCcacbV4.

[5]Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Situation Report 1 Philippines 9 March 2020, https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/wpro---documents/countries/philippines/emergencies/covid-19/who-phl-sitrep-1-covid-19-9mar2020.pdf?sfvrsn=2553985a_2.

[6]Jeong-Min Kim, et.al., “Identification of Coronavirus Isolated from a Patient in Korea with COVID-19,” https://www.ncbi,nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7045880/. See also Makin, Simon, “How Coronaviruses Cause Infection—from Colds to Deadly Pneumonia, “ <https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-coronaviruses-cause-infection-from-colds-to-deadly-pneumonia1/.

[7]Makin, How Coronaviruses Cause Infection—from Colds to Deadly Pneumonia

[8]Makin, How Coronaviruses Cause Infection—from Colds to Deadly Pneumonia

[9]Makin, How Coronaviruses Cause Infection—from Colds to Deadly Pneumonia . See also Zhou, Peng, et. al., “A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin,” https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2012-7 and  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2012-7; Qiu, Jane, “How China’s “Bat Woman” Hunted Down Viruses from SARS to the New Coronavirus,” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-woman-hunted-down-viruses-from-sars-to-the-new-coronavirus1/.

[10]Zoonotic diseases are also called zoonoses. These are transferred between animals and people. See Center for Disease Prevention and Control, “Zoonotic Diseases.” https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/basics/zoonotic-diseases.html.

[11]United Nations Environment Programme, “Six nature facts related to coronaviruses,” https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/six-nature-facts-related-coronaviruses.

[12]United Nations Environment Programme, “Six nature facts related to coronaviruses.”

[13]Bates, Mary, “World’s Smelliest Fruit Might Not Exist Without This Giant Bat,” https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/10/animals-science-nature-bats-pollination-durian-mutualism/.

[14]Quammen, David, “We Made the Coronavirus Epidemic,” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/opinion/coronavirus-china.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytopinion.

[15] A cultural historian, Berry’s works include The Dream of the Earth (1988), Befriending the Earth (with Thomas Clarke, 1991), The Universe Story From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era, A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos (with physicist Brian Swimme, 1992); The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the Twenty-First Century. (2009). Edited and with a Foreword by Mary Evelyn Tucker. New York: Columbia University Press.

[16]An Islamic philosopher, his works include An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines: Conceptions of Nature and Methods Used for Its Study by the Ikhwan al-Safa, al-Biruni, and Ibn Sina (1964), The Encounter of Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man (1968), Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization (2001), The Pilgrimage of Life and the Wisdom of Rumi: Poems and Translations (2007).

[17]United Nations Environment Programme, “Six nature facts related to coronaviruses.” See also Vidal, John, “Destroyed Habitat Creates the Perfect Conditions for Coronavirus to Emerge,” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/destroyed-habitat-creates-the-perfect-conditions-for-coronavirus-to-emerge/.

[18]See “Global Health Leaders Issue Urgent Call for United Effort to Stop Diseases Threatening All Life on Earth,” https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/13435/Global-Health-Leaders-Issue-Urgent-Call-for-United-Effort-to-Stop-Diseases-Threatening-All-Life-on-Earth.aspx. See also Robinson, Nicholas A., and Christian Walzer,  “How Do We Prevent the Next Outbreak?” https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/how-do-we-prevent-the-next-outbreak/.

[19]This theory is supported by studies. See for instance Khalil, H., Ecke, F., Evander, M. et al., “Declining ecosystem health and the dilution effect,” Sci Rep 6, 31314 (2016), https://doi.org/10.1038/srep31314. Other studies neither confirm nor deny the theory. See for instance Welsh, J. E. (2020). Lost in transmission: unravelling the mechanisms of parasite removal by non-hosts. PhD Thesis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

[20]He said: “Man, being the servant and interpreter of Nature, can do and understand so much and so much only as he has observed in fact or in thought of the course of nature: beyond this he neither knows anything nor can do anything.” The New Organon. 1857.

[21]See “The nine planetary boundaries” available,” https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries/planetary-boundaries/about-the-research/the-nine-planetary-boundaries.html.

[22]See “Sustainable Development Goals,” https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/.

[23]One of the vows of the Bodhisattva; see Sir John Templeton, 1999. Agape Love: A Tradition Found in Eight World Religions, Templeton Press.

[24]Genesis 2:15 (NASB). KJV: "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."

[25]Attributed to a follower of Confucius, Xunzi, Master Zi. See “What does Confucianism teach about ecology?” http://www.arcworld.org/faiths.asp?pageID=182.

[26]Alliance of Religions and Conservation, “What does Hinduism teach us about ecology,” http://www.arcworld.org/faiths.asp?pageID=5.

[27]The Qur'an, 54:49; 55:7

[28]Laudato Si (87), http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.