DEAR READERS: I receive reports from around the world every day on issues about animal health and behavior, environmental concerns and related public health issues. Here are just a few:

-- Cryptocurrency energy demand escalating. The media rarely report on the escalating energy demands of cryptocurrency transactions from data storage and transmission centers. This wasteful industry is being endorsed by many governments and adopted by the Trump organization and other corporate and private interests.

Building on data from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that in 2023, electricity supporting Bitcoin mining comprised about 0.2% to 0.9% of global demand. "Based on those estimates," states the EIA report, "global electricity use in cryptocurrency mining was about the same as the total electricity consumption in Greece or Australia, respectively." The estimated 2023 U.S. electricity demand supporting cryptocurrency mining "would equal annual demand ranging from more than 3 million to more than 6 million homes." (For more, see eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61364#.)

In this epoch of climate change, the contribution of cryptocurrency mining and transactions should concern us all. Even imposing a carbon tax on every transaction would not serve to ameliorate the risks and consequences.

-- The origin of COVID-19. From Nature.com:

"A new analysis of samples from early 2020 seems to add to the evidence that a market in Wuhan, China, was the likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Genomic data from raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) and greater hog badgers (Arctonyx collaris) found at the market seem to show signs of infection with SARS-CoV-2 or other closely related viruses. This supports the theory that animals were infected, which could have led to a 'spillover' event in which the virus infected people. But 'it doesn’t substitute for finding the virus in an infected animal' in terms of solid proof, says virologist Stanley Perlman." (For more, see nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03968-0?utm_.)

Related, also from Nature.com:

"After years of rumors that the virus that causes COVID-19 escaped from a laboratory in China, the virologist at the center of the claims has presented data on dozens of new coronaviruses collected from bats in southern China. At a conference in Japan (in December), Shi Zhengli, a specialist on bat coronaviruses, reported that none of the viruses stored in her freezers are the most recent ancestors of the virus SARS-CoV-2." (For more, see nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03982-2.)

As a background note, the U.S. government, after some biosecurity lapses, sent funds to transfer coronavirus research to China. Part of the allegation of a Wuhan biosecurity failure to contain the SARS-CoV-2 virus might have been fomented by the Chinese “wet market” industry to deflect responsibility. These markets, where caged and terrified animals are killed in public spaces, are widespread -- especially in regions lacking refrigeration and humane animal slaughtering facilities. They create significant risks to public health. All countries with open live animal markets have a social, as well as an ethical, responsibility to close all such facilities.

-- The panda scam. Corruption has been exposed, thanks to an investigation by Mara Hvistendhal of The New York Times. She details how U.S. zoos pay China millions of dollars for the right to host pandas at their facilities. By U.S. law, the money is required to go to conservation efforts for pandas in the wild. Instead, much of it has gone toward the construction of apartments, museums and computer equipment for Chinese government offices. Worse, many American officials knew about the misused funds but looked the other way for fear of losing access to the popular animals. (For more, see nytimes.com/2024/11/29/world/asia/china-panda-money-us-zoos.)

-- Fentanyl found in wild dolphins. Traces of fentanyl were found in the blubber of 30 of the 89 bottlenose dolphins studied in the Gulf of Mexico, researchers reported in iScience. “Chronic exposure to pharmaceuticals and their cumulative effects on marine mammals are not yet fully understood," said the study's lead author, Dara Orbach, "yet their presence in three dolphin populations across the Gulf of Mexico underscores the need for large-scale studies to assess the extent and sources of contamination.” (Full story: HealthDay.com, Dec. 9)

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR DR. FOX: I read your columns about the environment and climate change. As the mother of two preteen children, how might I best explain what is going on and why? I think the more they understand, the better they can handle what you call eco-anxiety. They do watch the news, and I am just not sure what to say to them. -- L.H., Cleveland, Ohio

DEAR L.H.: I appreciate your concerns. Years ago, when raising my three children, having to explain to them why some people like to shoot wolves -- like those I was raising for my behavioral research -- was a challenge! I told them that some people do not care because they are not connected: They know nothing about the wolves and other animals they kill, so they have neither respect nor understanding.

Such ignorance, and what I call empathy deficiency, can only be rectified by better education about environmental issues and the humane treatment of animals. Sadly, this is yet to be provided in most schools.

I would tell your children that those who harm Mother Earth also harm themselves. She suffers when we burn coal, oil and other fossil fuels, causing climate change. Many people do this because they have lost their respect and love for Mother Earth, treating nature as a resource to exploit and animals as objects -- some to be shot or hooked as trophies, others to be bred in cruel factory farms to be eaten.

A good book for children to read is "Harmony Among Neighbors: The Trumpeting Coyote’s Quest for Coexistence" by Stephanie Becker. And an excellent, longstanding resource that I recommend to parents and teachers is the nonprofit Institute for Humane Education (humaneeducation.org). Older children might be interested to know that there are careers in humane education, and that this organization, through an affiliation with Antioch University, offers graduate programs in such fields.

DEAR DR. FOX: I had been a bit of a climate change skeptic, but now appreciate what you have been saying concerning the loss of biodiversity.

This past summer, my wife and I drove from our home in Minnesota to Orlando, Florida, and back for a conference. My wife noticed that there were hardly any dead bugs splattered on our vehicle after the trip. In the old days, it would have been covered!

I now agree with you. -- B.G., Minnetonka, Minnesota

DEAR B.G.: As alarming as global estimates of insect declines are, the reality may actually be worse in many places. This is especially true here in the U.S., where Big Ag's insecticides and herbicides have created what ecologists call biological deserts. Then there is the so-called domino effect: Insect-eating bats, birds, reptiles and amphibians starve to death (or succumb to disease) with no insects to eat; plants lose their insect pollinators and go extinct; and pollinator-dependent crops fail. And without predators or biodiversity, some insects, such as mosquitoes, flourish. They evolve resistance to insecticides, spread widely (with climate change favorable to them) and put more communities at risk from the many diseases they can carry.

Regrettably, this complex issue has been neglected by governments around the world for decades, and the consequences will impact the quality of all life for generations to come. Immediate remedies must be implemented, beginning with organic, regenerative agriculture and agroforestry and the restoration of regional wildlands. In states like Minnesota, this must include the restoration of wetlands, which are vital carbon sinks, as well as flood prevention and the restoration of wildlife habitats. The latter have been taken over by Big Ag -- drained, tiled and tilled to produce livestock and poultry feed and biofuels.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR READERS: In wishing you a happy New Year, it is a good time to look back and see where our past choices have taken us.

Where in the world has compassion gone? I fear it has gone the way of empathy and justice. War, famine, plague, pestilence, terrorism, corruption and nihilism assault our sensibilities and sanity as we witness the brinkmanship dances and convolutions around nuclear war. Pro-life moralists undermine women’s reproductive rights while pro-industry minions undermine the rights of Indigenous peoples and species, along with environmental protection and conservation.

A rising tsunami of environmental refugees -- impoverished by colonialism and now further imperiled by overpopulation and climate change -- are seeking sanctuary in the richer countries that are, in part, responsible for their plight. Providing aid to them should be an integral part of climate change amelioration. At the recent United Nations COP29 climate summit, rich nations agreed to raise $300 billion per year to "help poorer countries to nix fossil fuels and adapt to a warming world," as Nature.com summarized. "The obligation is seen as both moral -- wealthy countries created most emissions and got rich doing so, whereas poor countries are most vulnerable to their effects -- and pragmatic: paying for decarbonization will prevent a much bigger bill if climate change is left to run rampant."

For too long, the prophetic warnings of Indigenous peoples have been ignored in this so-called Anthropocene era of humankind’s blind dominion over Earth. Peoples living in deeper communion with nature foresaw that when the oceans die, we die. Plastic and toxic chemical pollution are destroying the living matrix of the oceans. About 400 million tons of plastic are manufactured annually, but international negotiators who met in December in Busan, South Korea, were unable to hash out a treaty to address the issue. As Nature.com summarized: "One fundamental difference blocked agreement: Some nations aim to reduce production of nonessential plastics; others, particularly those who make petrochemicals, prefer to focus on waste management."

We are close to the end of this Anthropocene age, and what is to come? Either the Ecocene or the Ecocidal. The latter revolves around a fossil-fuel-based global economy that is unsustainable and ultimately nihilistic.

There are many solutions and resolutions we can all embrace. One significant corrective step is choosing a plant-based diet. Some metabolic diseases could have been prevented by responsible governments if they were not beholden to Big Ag and Big Pharma (drug companies that profit from nutrition-related diseases).

We face an anti-science, pro-business corporate-political oligarchy, which has long denied the risks of the pesticides and antibiotics that are overused and overprescribed to billions of farmed animals. Few American taxpayers are aware of the billions in government subsidies being given to harmful industrial agricultural practices -- especially to the livestock industry and commodity crop producers that indirectly benefit chemical fertilizer and pesticide sales.

Collectively, we are at a time of reckoning and accountability at all levels: nationally and internationally, personally and professionally, politically and industrially. There is no “salvation” in some magical techno-fix, such as atmospheric geoengineering to create more shade or to increase rain across chosen regions. Deep-sea mining for minerals, advocated by some to maintain energy security, could irreversibly damage aquatic ecosystems.

Funding a clean and sustainable energy transition is imperative. The escalating energy demands of data storage centers, cybercurrency transactions and corporate and government cybersecurity are adding to the climate crisis, not to mention homeowners’ costs in warming and cooling their homes. The escapist brain rot of cyberaddiction -- to online gaming and social media -- is also consuming energy. We are wasting good minds while creating a virtual reality devoid of virtue.

This is no time to be anti-science. We must supplant disinformation and denial with sound evidence and ethical reasoning. Escalating international tensions, triggering more spending on military weapons rather than on planetary conservation, will seal our fate. We must work towards making peace to save the planet.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)