Ebola and the Environment

A couple of months ago, when Ebola started showing up in headlines, I read Jake Flanagin’s New York Times article “How Environmentalism Can Help Stop Ebola”. At the time the article made perfect, logical sense to me. However re-reading the article now I am taken aback at the blame he and scientists place on the affected countries, especially Sierra Leone, for perpetuating the spread of this dangerous disease instead of examining the bigger picture.

Flanagin’s main premise is that Ebola is so widespread in these countries because of their environmental practices – or lack there of. His foremost claim is that deforestation is to blame. We now understand that the Ebola virus likely resides in animals – especially bats – in the wildlife near the effected areas. Therefore being in close contact with any wild animal is not ideal. However contact with these animals has been increasing in places like Sierra Leone because of deforestation. The United Nations Environment Program even believes its forests could disappear by 2018 (Flanagin). According to Colin Schulz of Smithsonian “as people cut down the forest or push further into the forest for mining and other work, it brings humans and animals into closer contact,” which “means more chances for viruses to jump from host to host.” So this deforestation is not only harmful for the environment, but it is causing some of the people in these countries to contract dangerous diseases like Ebola.

One crucial piece of information that Flanagin leaves out is why this deforestation is occurring on this large of a scale. Much of the deforestation in Sierra Leone has occurred because of pressure to mine natural resources such as diamonds and gold. In addition, more than half of the country is below the poverty line and civil war has been a prominent force in years past. Therefore we can conclude that Sierra Leone has what is known as the “resource curse”. The resource curse is the idea that an abundance of a natural resource inhibits economic growth, democracy, and increases likelihood of conflict. As Ross discussed in his article “Green Imperialism” the dependence on this natural resource that develops makes countries more susceptible to war through a reduction in growth and an increase in poverty. In this case it is also severely harming the environment in a systematic way. For example, because the country is so poor most do not have electricity and therefore need to cut down even more trees, along with those cut down for mining, in order to get charcoal and timber they need for every day life. But are they fully to blame for this “curse” and are there no other factors at play?

I believe a country is not solely responsible for how the resource curse affects them. While having a highly demanded resource can be a curse and partly leads to this kind of underdeveloped society, we must realize that as westerners we are the ones that make their resources in high demand. In fact a lot of blame can be put on Western people who participate in and facilitate this type of exploitation in order to reap the benefits. Mitchell argued this in his journal on Carbon Democracy stating the type of democracy America believes in is “a mode of governing populations that employs popular consent as a means of limiting claims for greater equality and justice by dividing up the common world” (Mitchell, 9). Simply put, while we boast democracy we depend on the oppression of states like Sierra Leone in order to keep our standards of living and people content.

The major issue I have with Flanagin’s argument is that he seems to make it “their problem” and even suggests that Westerners have a great interest in helping these countries. While I agree westerners do not want an outbreak of Ebola, I don’t believe we really want to change the structure of Sierra Leone because we benefit from their oppression. Looking at this argument from a more in depth view: if the Ebola epidemic can be blamed on deforestation and deforestation can be blamed on the resource curse that the west perpetuates, then is entire outbreak be blamed on us?

1. Flanagin, Jake. "How Environmentalism Can Help Stop Ebola" (2011).