The Great American Poisoning - by Justin Mares - The Next
For a wild animal, the default state is health. In normal times, wild animals are an appropriate weight. In the wild, animals don’t become obese. They don’t become depressed or suicidal. They don’t exhibit behavioral disorders. Animals inhabiting their evolved, ancestral environment are healthy — by default.
Animals in captivity are another story. These animals are often obese, develop tics and other neuroses, and engage in self-harm. In the famous case of Hugo at SeaWorld, an orca repeatedly rammed his head into the side of his pool until he had a brain aneurysm and died 1 . This phenomenon (known as “ Zoochosis”) describes the unnatural coping behaviors that arise when you cage a wild animal.
The health of an animal reflects the health of its environment. One glance at a starving boar, ribs pressing through the skin, and you understand the boar’s environment lacks the food it needs to be healthy. When we see a sick or starving animal, we ask: “What’s wrong with that animal’s environment that has led to poor health?” But when we see a sick human, we don’t ask “What in this human’s environment could be causing disease?” Instead, we say “It must be genetics” or “Don’t fat-shame!”
Today, as I look around, I see the opposite. Americans have never been fatter. We’ve never been sicker. Our kids have never had more cancer, more obesity, more diabetes, more behavioral disorders. The rampant chronic disease we see should force us to ask: why is everyone suddenly sick? Could it be that our environment is killing us?
