Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
While all infectious diseases can be traced back to some sort of pathogenic living organism, or germ,
many of them require another animal to be transmitted: bugs. Mosquitoes transmit malaria and yellow
fever, fleas transmit the bubonic plague, and lice transmit typhus. Once we understood this and had power-
ful machines to amplify our physical abilities
and our time to engage in scientific inquiry
, we declared war
on the bugs that spread disease. We drained the wetlands where the bugs can lay their eggs, we introduced
natural predators for the larval and adult forms of the bugs, we developed different chemicals that could
kill the eggs, larvae, or adults, and we made it impossible for the bugs to encounter humans without en-
countering pesticide.
Figure 6.2: More Fossil Fuel Use, Less Tuberculosis
Sources: BP, Statistical Review of World Energy 2013, Historical data workbook; World Bank, World Development In-
dicators (WDI) Online Data, April 2014
Notice how we discuss diseases like malaria as if they just happen to be in underdeveloped countries?
Malaria existed in developed countries—they just developed their way out of it. Professor Paul Reiter, a
malaria expert who has publicly criticized the IPCC for blaming malaria on global warming, gave a mem-
orable explanation of the history of malaria in front of the House of Lords:
I wonder how many of your Lordships are aware of the historical significance of the Palace of West-
minster? I refer to the history of malaria, not the evolution of government. Are you aware that the entire
