COVID-19 and the Ecophobic Reflex

Ecophobia has provided fertile ground for the birth and growth of COVID-19. e relationships between ecophobia and the disease are complex and require nuanced analyses and description. While COVID-19 is rooted in ecophobic relationships with the natural world, the disease itself also triggers ecophobic responses. Addressing the problem requires knowledge of what ecophobia is exactly and of how it is at the core of so many environmental crises. Understanding the problem will help to prevent future pandemics and to better deal with them when they arise. Failing to recognize how ecophobia patterns virtually all of our contacts and relationships with nature can only result in further crises and pandemics that lie further ahead on our current trajectory, and COVID-19 may be only a taste of what is yet to come. Addressing ecophobia through mainstream media is a big task, but we have begun similar tasks with sexism and racism. e stakes couldn’t be higher, and our very existence now depends on how well (and on how broad a societal scale) we can address ecophobia.