How to Survive a Pandemic: Michael Greger, MD

The Rich Roll Podcast

Rich Roll

Health & Fitness, Education, Self-improvement, Society & Culture

4.8 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 July 2020

⏱️ 118 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A powerful primer on all matters pandemic pertinent, today Michael Greger, M.D., FACLM returns for his fourth appearance on the podcast to answer all your coronavirus queries and more. A graduate of Cornell University and Tufts University School of Medicine as well as a founding member and Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Dr. Greger is the nutrition science wizard behind NutritionFacts.org — the world’s most authoritative, non-profit, science-based public service destination for all things nutrition, health and disease prevention. His massively popular books, including How Not to Die, How Not To Diet, and their cookbook analogues, all became instant New York Times Best Sellers and crowned Dr. Greger a media darling, his excitable face popping up everywhere from The Dr. Oz Show to The Colbert Report. Less well known is the fact that, prior to his focus on nutrition, Dr. Greger had an entire career as an internationally-recognized expert on public health. A specialist in emerging infectious diseases, he's been sounding the pandemic alarm for over a decade. Back then, nobody was listening. Now they are. To wit, Dr. Greger's latest release, How To Survive A Pandemic, now available in audiobook and kindle with a paperback version hitting the shelves August 18, forms the basis of today's conversation. Today's exchange is hyper focused on the public and political health disaster that is the novel coronavirus. The even more deadly impending H7N9 bird flu. And the common thread between these and other zoonotic diseases: humanity's broken relationship with animals. In general terms, I seize the opportunity to ask Dr. Greger his expert opinion on all my (and perhaps your) lingering questions about what exactly is happening. Where it started. Where it's going. How we prevent future pandemics. And how we survive this one. And perhaps the most fundamental question of all, how can we stop the emergence of pandemics in the first place? The answer begins with the dismantling of our industrialized factory farming infrastructure. Not only are America’s factory farms vile for the animals and the workers that slaughter them, but they are essentially breeding grounds for future pandemics. This is a call for the eradication of these systems--a moral imperative if we want to preserve not only our environment but the long-term viability of our species. This is an important, alarming, and downright terrifying moment of truth. So pay attention. The visually inclined can watch it all go down on YouTube. And as always, the audio version streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. If you're new to the show and interested in exploring Dr. Greger's work in nutrition, jump back to RRP #7, #199, and #522. It’s scary out there folks, but Dr. G, ever the enthusiastic optimist, remains hopeful. That gives me hope. And hopefully gives you a little. hope too. In the meantime, be kind. Peace + Plants, Rich Roll Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Here are the last few decades, human pathogens have emerged at a rate on hard
0:07.2	off in human history, mostly from animals. So, you know, HIV has been traced back to the
0:14.0	butchering of primates and the Bushmeat trade in Africa.
0:16.8	Mad cow disease was because we turned cows into carnivores and cannabals,
0:21.1	SARS and COVID-19, and traced back to these exotic live animal markets.
0:25.6	But, you know, our last pandemic, which was in flew in 2009, arose not from some
0:29.6	backwater wet market in Asia, but was largely made in the USA right here on industrial
0:35.3	pig operations in the United States. So, when we take thousands of animals,
0:40.0	we can cram these filthy football field size sheds, the light beaked to beaked,
0:43.6	or snout to snout to top their own ways. It's just a breeding ground for disease, right? It's not
0:47.6	just the sheer numbers in the overcrowding, the stress crippling their immune system, the ammonia
0:52.5	from the decomposing waste burning their lungs, the lack of fresh air, like a sunlight,
0:56.3	put all these factors together. We have this kind of the super storm kind of environment
1:00.9	for the emergence of spread of super strains of influenza.
1:04.8	Tragically, we don't tend to shore up the levees until after disaster strikes,
1:09.3	and the bottom line is this not worth risking the lives of millions of people for the sake of
1:14.4	cheaper chicken. This is the time you're ever going to start exercise programmers, stress reduction
1:21.5	or get your sleep schedule right or reduce stress or start eating healthy. This is the time.
1:25.8	Let's take advantage from those of us who are privileged enough not have to be out on the front line
1:31.6	to clean up our act and not only protect us against the current infectious disease, but from
1:36.3	chronic disease stress in the future. We really have to accelerate the movement away from
1:43.7	animal agriculture towards plant-based milk, plant-based meats, plant-based egg products. And so,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Rich Roll, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Rich Roll and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.