The average American eats about 50 pounds of pork each year. Much of it comes from industrial-scale hog farms that raise thousands of pigs at a time. All those animals create an enormous amount of waste.
British farmers must reduce their production of meat and dairy by a third in the next 10 years if scientific advice on limiting greenhouse gas emissions is to be met, the conservation charity WWF has said.
Coronavirus outbreaks at meatpacking plants have created a backlog of animals ready for slaughter but with nowhere to go. Farmers are having to cull them.
The global wildlife trade, agricultural intensification, deforestation and urbanization are bringing people closer to animals, giving their viruses more of what they need to infect us: opportunity.
