Will nature find a way....to turn us all vegan? Well, the data is overwhelmingly clear: meat production is one of the largest sources of greenhouse emissions, as well as a major consumer of water and petroleum-based fertilizers (used to fuel the production of their feed). Consequently, many people are reducing their consumption of meat, or cutting it out entirely, in order to lessen their carbon footprint. But there is another reason why meat consumption may start to decline, a reason that sounds almost like the plot to a sci-fi or horror movie: The proliferation of the Lone Star tick, and the alpha-gal syndrome caused by their bite, which causes a deadly allergy to red meat. The ticks have become so common, so ubiquitous in many cattle ranching regions of the U.S., that some ranchers have had to leave the industry entirely due to tick bites that have made even the mere exposure to cattle and beef a potentially deadly enterprise (e.g., delivering calves involves exposure to blood and bodily fluids that can trigger a deadly alpha-gal reaction in the rancher). Alpha-gal syndrome can cause anaphylactic shock. It can be triggered by consuming almost any mammalian flesh. Sometimes even from dairy products, or processed foods that have mammalian products in them. If enough ranchers get bit, it could significantly reduce the number of people producing red meat in the U.S. One recent study said that ticks are already costing the livestock industry $13 billion a year. And there is about to be a massive new hatch-out of Lone Star ticklets, a "larval bomb," which will spread to new victims. Climate change has made the problem much worse, allowing the ticks to spread into new habitats, affecting greater numbers of herds, ranchers, residents, and tourists. ER visits for tick bites has hit record levels this year. Lone Star ticks are especially bad in the northeast of the U.S. this year. And, no, these ticks are not genetically engineered, or spread by Bill Gates, to promote veganism. But maybe the MAGA trolls that like to push this nonsense might eventually open their eyes to the existential threat of climate change and acknowledge that slashing greenhouse gases might actually be necessary for their own survival. Check out the Lone Star tick tracker to see how bad they are in your neck of the woods: https://lone-star-tick-tracker.vercel.app/ #publichealth #ticks #meat #vegan