I would like to introduce you to one of
my patients
tato is an orphaned forest elephant that
I met when my family and I were living
in Gabon Africa and an elephant loving
oil man had rescued him after his mother
had been killed while prop rating in a
local village he wanted to know could I
help so I hopped on a helicopter out to
the middle of the forest and then a
truck ride out to base camp in this oil
field and this is where I first saw khat
oh and and he didn’t look so good but
really who could blame him he had just
lost his mother and now he was
surrounded by people and drilling
machinery so over the coming days we
nursed him with some medicines and milk
replacement formula and and what he
probably needed the most love despite
all our efforts it wasn’t enough and I
think of this little elephant every day
I always knew I wanted to be a wildlife
veterinarian I went to veterinary
college and graduate school and I even
survived a three-year residency and zoo
at Wildlife Medicine and I know my
training helped me realize my dream but
I’m sure it didn’t hurt that I had
clocked hundreds of hours watching
Tarzan and Jane both Tarzan’s Jane and
Jane Goodall I knew I wanted to help
save endangered species and I’ve been
able to do just that with my career I’ve
worked for some of the best zoos in the
world with the past ten years on staff
at the st. Louis Zoo and as a zoo
veterinarian I have treated lions and
tigers and even bears like this nine day
mostly mostly I’ve worked with wildlife
in the wild and countries from Argentina
to Zimbabwe in Central Africa I removed
a poacher’s snare from a big beautiful
bull elephant in the prime of his life
in South America I work to protect maned
wolves these amazing long-legged fox
like creatures protect them from viruses
like rabies and canine distemper viruses
that may spillover from domestic dogs
that are encroaching on their habitat
and traveling the world and providing
veterinary care to all types of animals
it has become abundantly clear the while
it is less wild than it once was and the
health of wildlife increasingly impacted
by the growing human footprint so I’d
like to share a story about a fungus in
2006 this fungus arrived in New York
State and it was probably carried there
on the shoes of some unsuspecting
traveler into the u.s. from Europe where
it’s native and this fungus likes bats
and I mean it really likes bats and
Europe bats aren’t harmed because they
evolved with it so they have an immunity
our bats hadn’t seen the fungus before
it arrives so they had no immunity so
bats began to get sick and bats began to
die they died of the disease called
white-nose syndrome the name of the
diseases fungus causes because of the
white noses of infected bats bats began
to die by the thousands and then bats
began to die by the millions as it’s
moved across our continent this fungus
has now infected bats in 32 States and
five Canadian provinces it has been
called the biggest wildlife emergency in
US history ever in 12 short years we
have lost 6 million bats
okay so right about now some of you may
be thinking I don’t even like bats so
why is she telling me this really sad
bad story so so let’s think about what
bats do right so one of the things they
do is they pollinate plants and all
kinds of plants one plant they pollinate
is called the agave and if that sounds
familiar it’s that agave the one that
gives you tequila
so no bats no agave and no margaritas
happy hours a little less happy right
bad health a little more interesting
right so so what else do bats do for us
well they eat pests and they eat lots of
pests a single bat might eat 6,000
mosquitoes in 24 hours so now you may be
thinking okay so if we’ve lost six
million bats and each bat can eat six
thousand mosquitoes in one night that is
a heck of a lot of mosquitoes right so
so now this one disease may have you
thinking about and we’re gonna be honest
primarily we’ll you’ll get your next
margarita but also if there are the bats
aren’t there and there are mosquitoes
well we reach for more pesticides
pesticides that might be carcinogenic to
you that might impact your health or
your family’s health so suddenly and if
we don’t reach for pesticides
maybe the the mosquitoes will be there
and bite you with viruses like West Nile
virus or Zika virus suddenly this sad
little bat disease may potentially have
devastating impacts on your health so
this story demonstrates the connection
of the health of animals environments
and humans but is it is far from the
only example you can change bats to
vultures or bees or giraffe
the health threat from a fungal pathogen
to a bacteria or virus a Hunter’s bullet
or an environmental contaminant your
choice all these examples the common
thread is the ties that bind the health
of environment animals and humans they
represent one health and one health
reminds us that the health of all life
is interdependent we are linked in ways
we are just starting to fully comprehend
and we need an interdisciplinary
holistic approach to solve the health
challenges of today so why now well I’m
not sure if you’ve noticed but I would
say earth is in a bit of a hot mess and
I made that both figuratively and
literally right the challenges on this
slide threaten Public Health wildlife
conservation and environmental stability
climate change is possibly the the
poster child of these threats but the
other challenges here are just as real
and potentially just as devastating the
one that I think a lot about is the loss
of biodiversity are the loss of species
because every time a species goes
extinct we lose its role in the
environment its ecosystem services we
lose its unique genetic code the DNA
that make ode for some yet to be
discovered life-saving drug today in
2018 the rate of species extinctions is
up to a hundred times the baseline
normal rate we haven’t seen species
extinctions like that since the time the
dinosaurs were checking out experts
estimate we may lose three species an
hour one may go extinct during the
course of this very short talk and these
extinctions are being caused by one
highly successful and intelligent
species Homo sapiens you
and to me I also think a lot about
pollution these days and plastic
pollution in particular and I know
plastics are awesome and we use them in
virtually everything today but now they
are everywhere because plastics degrade
really slowly and we used lots of them
and just one example in the u.s. we use
500 million plastic straws a day if you
put these end-to-end you will circle the
earth two and a half times this is just
plastic straws this is just the US and
that is just one day plastics are not
just making the planet look less healthy
they’re making it less healthy and and
this may be in ways you’re not even
considering and that is the chemicals
that make plastics plastics many of
these chemicals have endocrine
disrupting capabilities they they mess
with your hormone and the the most
famous is probably bisphenol A or BPA
but there are hundreds of others that
have this endocrine disrupting
capability so I’d like to share another
story and in this short story we have
plastics and turtles and sex but don’t
worry Turtles sex as in gender okay and
we’re gonna start with a biology lesson
so the sex of humans and other mammals
is determined by Troma zones we all
learn that in school right for many
turtle species the sex of the turtle is
determined by the temperature at which
the turtle is incubating so for most
turtle species it’s low temperatures are
male and high temperatures are female
right so this is really easy we have
dudes and hot babes right so we all
learn that but what what might this
weird way that Turtles decide what their
gender are gonna be what what does that
have to do with your health and that’s a
really good question but stick with me
we did a study we incubated turtle eggs
at low temperatures so male producing
temperatures we’re a hundred percent
should be males but we took a subset of
these and we exposed them to bisphenol A
or BPA amounts of BPA that are in our
rivers and what did we find
so no BPA a hundred percent males and
the turtles that had been exposed with
BPA and amounts that are found in our
rivers 33% were feminized 33% with the
amounts of BPA that is in our rivers so
even I appreciate that turtles are not
humans but these chemicals are in our
waterways and tin cans they are in our
breast milk and amniotic fluids we are
bathed in these chemicals might there be
a link with the earlier onset of puberty
and girls or menopause and women with a
lower sperm count or sperm quality and
men in some geographic regions or what
are the current human obesity crisis and
the lipid genacore the fat fat creating
capability is that these endocrine
disruptors also possess plastics are a
threat to the health of environments
animals and humans alike so probably no
surprise to you all but I think about
planetary health a lot and the health of
all life and I like to compare it to a
visit to the doctor so you go in for
your annual checkup and your doctor
asked some questions and does some tests
and then she says you need to stop
overeating slow down on the smoking and
drinking and for the love of
do some exercise you are headed for a
heart attack I think most of us would
not like to admit it but we probably
will not do a darn thing until that
heart attack happens lifestyle changes
are hard and life is busy well folks I
think we’re sitting on the threshold of
a planetary heart attack and I think we
get closer every day the half a million
people in Cape Town South Africa today
are counting down to day zero or the day
their tap water runs dry we are moving
pathogens and vectors and animals and
plants across the globe from one
continent to the next we have created
areas like the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch an area in the Pacific Ocean twice
the size of Texas with our plastic waste
scientists estimate by 2050 there will
be more weight from plastics than from
fish in our oceans yes the heart attack
is coming unless we make changes now
today the warnings are out there so we
have time we can take action you can
take action you can make wise choices
and you can start today so what can you
do learn about these shared threats that
connect the health of environments
animals and you share your new knowledge
with others in a way that ways that
affect policy changes use your voice
your vote your pocketbook in ways that
lead to improved planet for you your
family and your planet go meatless for a
meal a day a year a lifetime help
pollinators build bee houses and bad
houses buy local are better yet just buy
less
and eliminate the use of single stream
plastics don’t use plastic straws
plastic bottles plastic bags straws suck
anyway so you may be thinking well one
or two plastic straws make a difference
can I make a difference yes and yes
change will happen it always does but
you get to decide whether that change
will be for planetary health you get to
decide whether the next generations will
have a healthy and bright future an
earth that continues to welcome humans
and all the other amazing species like
elephants and maned wolves and turtles
and redwood trees we have one home and
in it all life is connected by one health
my patients
tato is an orphaned forest elephant that
I met when my family and I were living
in Gabon Africa and an elephant loving
oil man had rescued him after his mother
had been killed while prop rating in a
local village he wanted to know could I
help so I hopped on a helicopter out to
the middle of the forest and then a
truck ride out to base camp in this oil
field and this is where I first saw khat
oh and and he didn’t look so good but
really who could blame him he had just
lost his mother and now he was
surrounded by people and drilling
machinery so over the coming days we
nursed him with some medicines and milk
replacement formula and and what he
probably needed the most love despite
all our efforts it wasn’t enough and I
think of this little elephant every day
I always knew I wanted to be a wildlife
veterinarian I went to veterinary
college and graduate school and I even
survived a three-year residency and zoo
at Wildlife Medicine and I know my
training helped me realize my dream but
I’m sure it didn’t hurt that I had
clocked hundreds of hours watching
Tarzan and Jane both Tarzan’s Jane and
Jane Goodall I knew I wanted to help
save endangered species and I’ve been
able to do just that with my career I’ve
worked for some of the best zoos in the
world with the past ten years on staff
at the st. Louis Zoo and as a zoo
veterinarian I have treated lions and
tigers and even bears like this nine day
mostly mostly I’ve worked with wildlife
in the wild and countries from Argentina
to Zimbabwe in Central Africa I removed
a poacher’s snare from a big beautiful
bull elephant in the prime of his life
in South America I work to protect maned
wolves these amazing long-legged fox
like creatures protect them from viruses
like rabies and canine distemper viruses
that may spillover from domestic dogs
that are encroaching on their habitat
and traveling the world and providing
veterinary care to all types of animals
it has become abundantly clear the while
it is less wild than it once was and the
health of wildlife increasingly impacted
by the growing human footprint so I’d
like to share a story about a fungus in
2006 this fungus arrived in New York
State and it was probably carried there
on the shoes of some unsuspecting
traveler into the u.s. from Europe where
it’s native and this fungus likes bats
and I mean it really likes bats and
Europe bats aren’t harmed because they
evolved with it so they have an immunity
our bats hadn’t seen the fungus before
it arrives so they had no immunity so
bats began to get sick and bats began to
die they died of the disease called
white-nose syndrome the name of the
diseases fungus causes because of the
white noses of infected bats bats began
to die by the thousands and then bats
began to die by the millions as it’s
moved across our continent this fungus
has now infected bats in 32 States and
five Canadian provinces it has been
called the biggest wildlife emergency in
US history ever in 12 short years we
have lost 6 million bats
okay so right about now some of you may
be thinking I don’t even like bats so
why is she telling me this really sad
bad story so so let’s think about what
bats do right so one of the things they
do is they pollinate plants and all
kinds of plants one plant they pollinate
is called the agave and if that sounds
familiar it’s that agave the one that
gives you tequila
so no bats no agave and no margaritas
happy hours a little less happy right
bad health a little more interesting
right so so what else do bats do for us
well they eat pests and they eat lots of
pests a single bat might eat 6,000
mosquitoes in 24 hours so now you may be
thinking okay so if we’ve lost six
million bats and each bat can eat six
thousand mosquitoes in one night that is
a heck of a lot of mosquitoes right so
so now this one disease may have you
thinking about and we’re gonna be honest
primarily we’ll you’ll get your next
margarita but also if there are the bats
aren’t there and there are mosquitoes
well we reach for more pesticides
pesticides that might be carcinogenic to
you that might impact your health or
your family’s health so suddenly and if
we don’t reach for pesticides
maybe the the mosquitoes will be there
and bite you with viruses like West Nile
virus or Zika virus suddenly this sad
little bat disease may potentially have
devastating impacts on your health so
this story demonstrates the connection
of the health of animals environments
and humans but is it is far from the
only example you can change bats to
vultures or bees or giraffe
the health threat from a fungal pathogen
to a bacteria or virus a Hunter’s bullet
or an environmental contaminant your
choice all these examples the common
thread is the ties that bind the health
of environment animals and humans they
represent one health and one health
reminds us that the health of all life
is interdependent we are linked in ways
we are just starting to fully comprehend
and we need an interdisciplinary
holistic approach to solve the health
challenges of today so why now well I’m
not sure if you’ve noticed but I would
say earth is in a bit of a hot mess and
I made that both figuratively and
literally right the challenges on this
slide threaten Public Health wildlife
conservation and environmental stability
climate change is possibly the the
poster child of these threats but the
other challenges here are just as real
and potentially just as devastating the
one that I think a lot about is the loss
of biodiversity are the loss of species
because every time a species goes
extinct we lose its role in the
environment its ecosystem services we
lose its unique genetic code the DNA
that make ode for some yet to be
discovered life-saving drug today in
2018 the rate of species extinctions is
up to a hundred times the baseline
normal rate we haven’t seen species
extinctions like that since the time the
dinosaurs were checking out experts
estimate we may lose three species an
hour one may go extinct during the
course of this very short talk and these
extinctions are being caused by one
highly successful and intelligent
species Homo sapiens you
and to me I also think a lot about
pollution these days and plastic
pollution in particular and I know
plastics are awesome and we use them in
virtually everything today but now they
are everywhere because plastics degrade
really slowly and we used lots of them
and just one example in the u.s. we use
500 million plastic straws a day if you
put these end-to-end you will circle the
earth two and a half times this is just
plastic straws this is just the US and
that is just one day plastics are not
just making the planet look less healthy
they’re making it less healthy and and
this may be in ways you’re not even
considering and that is the chemicals
that make plastics plastics many of
these chemicals have endocrine
disrupting capabilities they they mess
with your hormone and the the most
famous is probably bisphenol A or BPA
but there are hundreds of others that
have this endocrine disrupting
capability so I’d like to share another
story and in this short story we have
plastics and turtles and sex but don’t
worry Turtles sex as in gender okay and
we’re gonna start with a biology lesson
so the sex of humans and other mammals
is determined by Troma zones we all
learn that in school right for many
turtle species the sex of the turtle is
determined by the temperature at which
the turtle is incubating so for most
turtle species it’s low temperatures are
male and high temperatures are female
right so this is really easy we have
dudes and hot babes right so we all
learn that but what what might this
weird way that Turtles decide what their
gender are gonna be what what does that
have to do with your health and that’s a
really good question but stick with me
we did a study we incubated turtle eggs
at low temperatures so male producing
temperatures we’re a hundred percent
should be males but we took a subset of
these and we exposed them to bisphenol A
or BPA amounts of BPA that are in our
rivers and what did we find
so no BPA a hundred percent males and
the turtles that had been exposed with
BPA and amounts that are found in our
rivers 33% were feminized 33% with the
amounts of BPA that is in our rivers so
even I appreciate that turtles are not
humans but these chemicals are in our
waterways and tin cans they are in our
breast milk and amniotic fluids we are
bathed in these chemicals might there be
a link with the earlier onset of puberty
and girls or menopause and women with a
lower sperm count or sperm quality and
men in some geographic regions or what
are the current human obesity crisis and
the lipid genacore the fat fat creating
capability is that these endocrine
disruptors also possess plastics are a
threat to the health of environments
animals and humans alike so probably no
surprise to you all but I think about
planetary health a lot and the health of
all life and I like to compare it to a
visit to the doctor so you go in for
your annual checkup and your doctor
asked some questions and does some tests
and then she says you need to stop
overeating slow down on the smoking and
drinking and for the love of
do some exercise you are headed for a
heart attack I think most of us would
not like to admit it but we probably
will not do a darn thing until that
heart attack happens lifestyle changes
are hard and life is busy well folks I
think we’re sitting on the threshold of
a planetary heart attack and I think we
get closer every day the half a million
people in Cape Town South Africa today
are counting down to day zero or the day
their tap water runs dry we are moving
pathogens and vectors and animals and
plants across the globe from one
continent to the next we have created
areas like the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch an area in the Pacific Ocean twice
the size of Texas with our plastic waste
scientists estimate by 2050 there will
be more weight from plastics than from
fish in our oceans yes the heart attack
is coming unless we make changes now
today the warnings are out there so we
have time we can take action you can
take action you can make wise choices
and you can start today so what can you
do learn about these shared threats that
connect the health of environments
animals and you share your new knowledge
with others in a way that ways that
affect policy changes use your voice
your vote your pocketbook in ways that
lead to improved planet for you your
family and your planet go meatless for a
meal a day a year a lifetime help
pollinators build bee houses and bad
houses buy local are better yet just buy
less
and eliminate the use of single stream
plastics don’t use plastic straws
plastic bottles plastic bags straws suck
anyway so you may be thinking well one
or two plastic straws make a difference
can I make a difference yes and yes
change will happen it always does but
you get to decide whether that change
will be for planetary health you get to
decide whether the next generations will
have a healthy and bright future an
earth that continues to welcome humans
and all the other amazing species like
elephants and maned wolves and turtles
and redwood trees we have one home and
in it all life is connected by one health
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