SBS D Forum (SDF) is a knowledge sharing platform created by SBS for social contribution.

We present the topics that our society needs to look at in depth and look for insights from various angles.


Do you know Dr. Jane Goodall, a world-renowned zoologist and avid environmentalist?



Dr. Goodall is the leading authority on chimpanzee behavior research, who, at the young age of 26, entered the Gombe chimpanzee sanctuary in Tanzania, Africa, and studied chimpanzees in their wild state for over 60 years.



Dr. Jane Goodall


Dr. Jane Goodall was born in London, England, was born in April 1934, so we are 88 years old this year.

However, she still travels more than 300 days a year to more than 80 countries around the world, and has been active for decades, promoting the dangers of climate change, conservation of nature, and the importance and necessity of coexistence between humans and nature.

Of course, since last year, we have been unable to engage in face-to-face activities, but we are communicating more through non-face-to-face activities such as media interviews, video calls, and e-mail replies.

Dr. Goodall's arguments are drawing attention as the coronavirus emerges from the reckless capture of wild animals.



Dr. Goodall has emphasized the need to stop capturing, raising and eating wild animals immediately.

In a recent interview with a British media, the

deadly virus that existed in the wild, like

the

coronavirus, was infected and spread to humans as'human disrespect for animals and nature', and

these behaviors have not changed. If so,

he warned

that'Humanity will be finished'

.

In particular, the most valuable lesson learned from the coronavirus outbreak and what we need now

is're-establishing a new relationship between humans and nature (animals)'.

(The most important lesson from this pandemic is that we need a new relationship with nature and animals).


However, Dr. Jane Goodall's argument is in line with what Professor Jae-Chun Choi, a leading ecologist and evolutionary biologist in Korea, has consistently spoken for decades.

Professor Jae-cheon Choi, who received a Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University in the United States and served as the first president of the National Institute of Ecology, has also gotten more busy after the coronavirus outbreak.

Professor Choi, who is also the representative of the Biodiversity Foundation, delivers in-depth messages through insightful lectures and column contributions on how to view and find solutions to the events triggered by the coronavirus.

Also, I have a long relationship with Dr. Goodal.

I met Professor Jae-Chun Choi in the lab located deep in the Ewha Womans University campus.


Jae-Chun Choi, Chair Professor, Ewha Womans University Department of Ecoscience


Q. From what perspective are you paying attention and looking into the current era of Corona 19?


A. I am an evolutionary biologist.

That's why I live by analyzing and looking at everything in the world from an evolutionary perspective.

In the past, when

I

was studying in the United States,

the concept

of'co-evolution'

first came up.

It is said that a bee sucking nectar from a flower and a flower have no choice but to evolve with each other, but in the early days people didn't believe it very well.

Because'How can evolution be coordinated with other living things?'

So, at first, a lot of people said that they were making a wrong sound, but now, after a long time, all evolution has changed to the point of saying that all evolution is'co-evolution'.

Because there

are no creatures living alone in the world.

Something I do right now affects the people around me, and when those things come together, the set of actions that our species do has no choice but to interact with other living things that share the Earth.

So what doesn't'co-evolve' means that there is no one in this world.

One of the most dramatic manifestations of this is'the relationship between disease and humans'.



Q. Could you explain a little more?


A. It is a species that has been born on Earth for about 250,000 years.

Probably, for about 240,000 years, I lived as a real unremarkable entity.

It would have been like this after running away from the African grasslands in fear of being eaten by lions, but at one point,

our ancestors farmed, and the number exploded.

Farming began for about 11,000 years, but let's compare the scale of Homo sapiens before and after farming.

Since there were only a few people before farming,

most scholars speculate

that even if we added all the weights, we accounted for less than 1% of the total animal biomass

.

Humans were really insignificant beings

.

However

, over 10,000 years, the number has increased tremendously, and it is

calculated that the

proportion of humans and domestic animals such as cattle, pigs, and chickens that we raise accounts for at least 95% to 99% of the total animal weight

.

This means that humans, who were less than 1% in 10,000 years, now go up to 99%.

It means that the tigers, bears, and these living in the forest are only 1% or a few percent.

Then there are pathogens, viruses, and bacteria that live attached to the bodies of animals, and they have no reason to stick to the body of Homo sapiens about 10,000 years ago, and there aren't a few.



Q.'Virus vs.

Homo sapiens' What is this composition?


A.

Right now, if the viruses just say,'I have to move', they are almost bound to be humans or livestock that we raise.

Reality proves it, now bird flu has been going through almost every year for the last 10 years.

African swine fever is also ongoing.

Even for us humans, comparing the last century and this century is a marked difference.

In the last century, the pandemic started several times with the Spanish flu in 1918. If you look at it roughly, it is a period of 20 to 30 years. Etc. We are all going through right now, right?

If you calculate it, the

cycle is getting very short, about 2 to 3 years.

Children in the body of wild animals are constantly escaping, and when they escape and settle, they are almost 100% of us or our livestock, and coronavirus is the same, and this will happen more often in the future.

This means that the time has come to really seriously redefine our relationship with nature.



Q. But what feels ironic during this coronavirus is that humans have been constantly pursuing connections to become one globally.

Boasting a dense aviation network and road network due to technological advancement.

But from a virus's point of view, the result of this connection has created the worst conditions for humanity on its own.



A. Yes.

When it comes to being, I said, "The virus has a really amazing'Blue Ocean'."

Would you have expressed it like this?

From a virus standpoint, it's probably the first time in their entire history of their existence on Earth.

There are 7.8 billion Homo sapiens now, and their animals are far more than this, and they usually don't take social distancing, and they live together.

If you say you want to target a bear that lives in the natural world, you have to wait for the bear to meet another bear after attacking one, but in the case of humans or livestock raised by humans, this is not necessary, right?

There are many creatures that make up and live in society overwhelmingly more advantageous

than those living alone

, but do you know what is the biggest vulnerability of animals that make up society?

It is a disease.

Even if you go well, the sociality is that once the disease turns, the window just collapses.

We've probably conquered the Earth with the power of connection, but in a way, it's very ironic that we are going through a great disaster right now because of that connection.


Dr. Jane Goodall and Professor Jaecheon Choi


Q. I heard news that climate change is also affecting wild habitats.


A. Basically, bats are tropical animals, but due to global warming caused by climate change, they are expanding their habitat to a temperate climate.

Recently, researchers at Cambridge University also published a thesis.

It means that the physical distance between bats and us humans is getting smaller, but just because bats come in, doesn't mean the problem will arise right away.

Every environmental issue is ultimately a population issue.

Homo sapiens continues to grow explosively.

So, I need a lot of living space, so I keep cutting down the forest.

Then, wild animals living in the forest will inevitably reduce their habitat and increase the frequency and chances of encountering humans.

As we meet frequently, we see that wild animals keep passing viruses received from bats to humans.



Q. If the biological pandemic we are experiencing is'Corona 19', the upcoming ecological pandemic is called'climate change' a lot.

However, it is not easy for the general public to feel the fear and importance of climate change.


A. That's right.

But the explanation is very simple.

The old European Black Death killed a third of the European population.

It was a huge number of kills.

But why couldn't the other two-thirds be killed?

I couldn't kill it because I couldn't infect it.

I couldn't move.

It is said that the corona is bad right now, but the virus has its limits.

Strictly speaking, it's not a creature, so it doesn't mean that you move toward a goal with a will.

'I don't like that friend, but I have to infect it', so I don't get out of my body and go straight to infect it.

It's passive.

So the plague doesn't make us completely extinct.

Corona is also paying a lot of sacrifice, but it will eventually be resolved.



But climate change is different.

If the climate gets worse overall, you have nowhere to hide.

It doesn't infect it, it just sucks the whole planet into its worst condition all at once.

Unlike viruses, climate change can make us extinct.

Climate change, one of the causes of Corona 19, is a terrifying catastrophe that can pinpoint and kill the last person.

Climate change can bring a huge disaster to us that is incomparable to the extent of the virus pandemic.



Q. You are emphasizing the importance of'behavioral vaccines' and'ecological vaccines'.


A. The best way to achieve collective immunity is to make a good vaccine with the help of science.

However, there is a vaccine that can be given much more easily than that.

If you wash your hands well, wear a mask, keep your distance, and do that well, you can really reduce it.

It is the'behavioral vaccine', and our people are doing well this time.

However, I explained that a vaccine that is fundamentally better than that is an'ecological vaccine'.

Now, the virus has been transferred from wild animals to humans, and you are suffering from this kind of catastrophe.

However, if

we respect nature and do not allow viruses to pass from the natural world to our human world at all, this will not happen as it is now.

No matter how short the cycle is, I'm talking about this, but

if you protect nature well, keep animals and humans moderately socially

apart,

and live with respect for each other's lives, this will not happen.

Viruses are scary, but compared to climate change or biodiversity decline, viruses aren't really that much.

That is why the importance of'behavioral vaccines' and'ecological vaccines' is being emphasized.

These vaccines are the vaccines I made, haha.




Q. Now that all humanity is in danger, what lessons can we learn from Corona?


A. There are two.

One is

the importance of solidarity within our human society.

Why did we talk a lot about African proverbs?

'If you want to go fast, you go alone, but if you want to go far, you have to go together.'

I don't think this phrase has ever come so desperately like this one.

There is something we have definitely learned.

'Just because you live well, and just because you are on the upper level, cannot be completely free from viruses.'

This time, the so-called upper-class people couldn't do anything.

It's the first time I've learned a stupid lesson that I felt stiff in a way that society doesn't work normally unless people from all walks of life are free from the virus together.

As for the vaccine, you are wondering where to start vaccination while looking at the whole society.

It's not about giving money and power people first, but rather giving vaccination opportunities to those who are dealing with a lack of medical facilities and vulnerable places and many people.

I think that this kind of discussion is a new phenomenon and a very interesting evolution.

We humans are having this discussion on how to live together.

That's a real solidarity.



Let me go one step further.

We humans thought that we only needed to build and live in the urban environment, but as nature collapsed, the influence was bound to overwhelm us living in the city.

Then,

shouldn't we be in solidarity with nature now?

If we don't find a way to leave nature as it is, things like this will continue to come to us from nature.

That is why the solidarity between us is also important, and the solidarity between nature and humans is also very important.



Q. The concept of'homosimbius' created by the professor also contains the importance of symbiosis and solidarity.


A. The

symbiosis human'Homo Symbious'

is a

phrase

I made 20 years ago.

We call symbiosis as symbiosis.

It's an adjective, Symbius.

Solidarity between human society, solidarity between humans and nature, solidarity of humans, that would be the meaning.

In fact, HomoSymbius has been talking on my own for 20 years, but it wasn't very popular, haha.

But finally, many people started to pay attention.

Corona This situation seems to have created an atmosphere of'Oh, this can be important'.

This is not a time when you can only eat well and live well by yourself.

Since all of nature is closely connected, you have to think about living with other beings who need to share this one and only Earth.

The word'homo sapiens' means a wise human being, but no matter how much I think back, my brain is good, but it doesn't seem wise.

If you're really wise, let's be reborn as'HomoSymbius' in the sense that you have to seriously think about how to go together from now on. I talk about that a lot.




Professor Jae-Chun Choi says he sees some hope right now.

It is said that as more and more people say,'If you harm nature like this, a really big disaster could come,' people's thoughts about nature themselves began to change.

In a recent conversation with Dr. Jane Goodall, he said, "What we haven't been able to do so far has been done by an invisible virus

."



In addition

, "due to the corona, but Although mankind has paid a lot of sacrifice and enormous cost, the more colossal pandemic and disaster is very rare and valuable learning that if you give us now understood a little of that coming is this corona can stop it. It may have been an opportunity"

,

He said he shared these stories with Dr. Goodall.

However, he says the homework remains on how to put the learning gained this time into action.


First meeting between Professor Jae-Chun Choi and Dr. Jane Goodall (1996)


The relationship between Professor Choi and Dr. Goodal dates back to 1996.

Interviewing Dr. Goodal, who visited Korea, we have continued our friendship for over 20 years.

If it wasn't for Corona, Dr. Goodal said he could have come to Korea last year.

I hope the opportunity to meet Dr. Goodal in Korea will come soon.



I wonder to what extent will you sympathize with the saying that the conservation of nature, that is,'ecological vaccine', which we have been hearing nails in our ears since childhood, should now become an essential for survival, not an option.

Climate change will have unimaginable and terrifying consequences for our future generations.

I would like to close the article by conveying Professor Jae-Chun Choi's awareness of the problem.



"In the meantime, we have been treating climate change and biodiversity as a problem that we can only worry about later if we live well. But unless the climate change and biodiversity problems are resolved, we will be concerned about the pandemic problem. We can't be free. Now, it is not a problem that we have to be comfortable with, but if we do not solve this problem, our existence itself is bound to be threatened. If you had even thought of'I have to do it', from now on, I have to think seriously and prepare for climate change, which is more terrifying."




<References> The

Jane Goodall Institute of the


Biodiversity Foundation

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jun/03/jane-goodall-humanity-is-finished-if-it-fails- to-adapt-after-covid-19

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/03/jane-goodall-change-is-happening-there-are-many-ways-to-start-moving -in-the-right-way






*** The report files of the SBS Press Headquarters Future Team are prepared all year round by the future team members of the SBS Press Headquarters, centering on SBS's representative social contribution knowledge sharing platform <SBS D Forum>.

It is based on the newsletter <SDF Diary>, a newsletter that provides meaningful new perspectives and attempts by looking ahead at topics that should be of interest to our society.



Every Wednesday, a chapter of discourse gathering wisdom unfolds!


If you want to access the SBS Future Team's coverage files, please subscribe to <SDF Diary>!



▶ Go to SDF Diary Subscribe



SBS Future Team / sdf@sbs.co.kr