DEAR READERS: I see the existential crises we are facing today not being simply a consequence of ignorance, but of indifference and denial, compounded by greed. Together they foment spiritual corruption and ultimately, our de-evolution. We have the science, the intelligence and the ethics to combat these crises, but these things are seen today as obstacles. President Trump derides such assets as “woke” in his attacks on academia, the scientific community and even the National Institutes of Health.

World trade should be regulated not by tariffs, but by a carbon tax to minimize environmental costs. These are too often “externalized,” with polluting industries being given government subsidies. Abandoning the principles of social, economic and environmental justice is not good business, nor good politics. Trump’s tax credit to boost corn production for ethanol (while eliminating tax credits for solar energy) and promoting harmful deep-sea mining for rare minerals are clearly steps in the wrong direction. Tearing up the last of the prairie grasslands and draining wetlands -- all of which help sequester atmospheric carbon, prevent flooding and purify rainwater -- should be prohibited and these ecosystems restored.

Close to half of all animal species on Earth have become extinct since I was born over 80 years ago, as politics and economics took precedence over science and the rising evidence of our collective destruction of planetary life. All of this, along with decades of warnings about the looming climate crisis, was overshadowed by costly wars, internecine strife, terrorism and corporate colonial hegemony. National and international factions, religious and racial, are additional obstacles to unified action on saving our planet and ourselves.

I empathize with Diana Six, professor of entomology at the University of Montana, who told The Guardian in 2021: “My whole life has been documenting how life works, how we can conserve species that are in trouble. [But in recent years,] I was no longer cataloging life and finding ways to prevent ecosystems from reaching tipping points. I had actually hit my own tipping point. Somewhere along the way, I had gone from being an ecologist to a coroner. I am no longer documenting life. I’m describing loss, decline, death. And that is what is accounting for my kind of overwhelming sense of grief.”

We have breached seven of the nine planetary boundaries that maintain life on Earth as we know it, according to a team of scientists monitoring the state of the world. This calls for a United Environmental Nations organization to link civil society initiatives in every community and country to act under the banner of One Earth, One Health.

BRING BACK THE BISON!

From 2017 to 2022, researchers monitored migrating bison across Yellowstone National Park, finding that these animals kept carbon levels stable while enhancing nitrogen turnover, which in turn stimulated plant growth and carbon sequestration. Grazing increased the presence of helpful microbes and bacteria, and created many pockets for nutrient levels to flourish and support other wildlife.

Bison can be a key driver of healthy ecosystems when allowed to roam. When kept on smaller ranches or reserves, bison do not achieve such diverse effects. “The ecological function of migratory herbivores depends fundamentally on their ability to move across landscapes ...” conclude the study's authors. “Restoring bison at this scale is not only possible -- it works.”

For details, see "Yellowstone’s free-moving large bison herds provide a glimpse of their past ecosystem function" by Chris Geremia et al., published in Science, August 2025.

One of the greatest crimes against nature was the mass extermination of millions of bison that filled the Great Plains and roamed free from Mexico to Alberta and from the Rocky Mountains to South Carolina. We must increase their numbers by restoring grassland, woodland and wetland habitats.

BANKS PROFITING FROM DEFORESTATION

Since the Paris climate agreement was signed in 2016, banks and investors have made an astonishing $26 billion in profits from financing companies driving deforestation. U.S. financial firms earned $5.4 billion, led by Vanguard, JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock. EU banks brought in $3.5 billion, with BNP Paribas and Rabobank at the top. U.K. banks raked in $1.2 billion, with HSBC, Aberdeen group and Schroders leading. Outside these hubs, banks in Brazil and Indonesia made billions more.

"The new analysis represents the largest ever mapping of income from the harmful financing of companies accused of deforestation, land grabs and human rights abuses, including through some of the world’s largest agribusinesses," according to GlobalWitness.org.

Leaders must act. The financial system cannot continue to bankroll the destruction of our forests -- and the lives, communities and climates they sustain. For details, see globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/banks-make-26-billion-in-a-decade-of-financing-deforesting-companies.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

The insightful article by Mohamud Farah about Somali families in Minnesota balancing their faith with having dogs in their homes (Minneapolis Star Tribune, Oct. 12) underscores the persisting social stigma attached to owning a dog. Regarding dogs as "unclean" goes back millennia, most probably due to the fear of them transmitting rabies, for which there is now a vaccination.

Many people, both Muslims and non-Muslims, fear dogs' saliva. I have received more than one letter from elderly people whose dogs have licked and healed sores on their legs and arms, reminiscent of the biblical story of leprosy-afflicted Lazarus being cared for by street dogs. Dog saliva contains the antibacterial enzyme lysozyme, and stimulating the skin around the wounds through licking increases healing blood flow. Lysozyme is an important antibacterial component of saliva in healthy dogs. It participates in the host immune defense, along with salivary secretory immunoglobulin (SIgA) against bacteria, maintaining the steady equilibrium of the oral cavity environment.

There is evidence that human saliva has similar healing and analgesic properties. Saliva from humans has yielded a natural painkiller dubbed opiorphin that is up to six times more powerful than morphine, researchers claim. This is probably present in the saliva of dogs and other mammals.

Exposure to the bacteria that dogs bring into our homes on their paws and pass on when they contact family members has been shown to enrich the microbiomes of children, which in turn gives greater protection against infections and allergies. Pollen in their fur may also be a source of desensitizing exposure.

Dogs are good for us, and we should be good to them and let all religious faith traditions promote compassion and respect for them and all creatures great and small.

I respectfully invite all imams and rabbis to read this scientific review of ritual slaughter, since all religions must evolve to be relevant. That includes making animal slaughter more humane. Simoes, J., Fox, M.W. (2025). Ritual Slaughter: An Open Debate. In: Simoes, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Livestock Medicine for Large Animal and Poultry Production. Springer, Cham. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52133-1_528-1

I was raised in a Christian community and believed the hymn that went "All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, the good Lord made them all.” So, as a child, everything in Nature, every creature, tree and flower, I saw as part of God, manifestations of divinity. I felt the radiance in every living thing that I beheld in awe and wonder.

Growing up in a culture and world where there is so much animal as well as human suffering and destruction of Nature, and conflicts between religions and nations, has been challenging. Now, as a senior citizen, I see hope in the virtue of benevolence in the loving core of every religious tradition that embraces the Golden Rule and equalitarianism, the bedrock of social and economic justice. This civilization with its technosphere will soon end if it causes more irreversible damage to the biosphere.

NO FUR NOW IN VOGUE

The October 2025 Vogue magazine and its subsidiaries have banned fur in their apparel coverage. This is good news for the millions of animals being caught and killed in traps and raised in small cages on fur farms. It has taken decades of rising public outcry over the cruelty of exploiting animals for their fur and pelts. Many years ago, when on "The Tonight Show" as a guest, I confronted actress Shelley Winters during a commercial break about the full-length fur coat she was wearing. After she told me it was a wild lynx coat, I politely informed her that it probably took 10 to 15 of them to make that coat and that they had been caught and killed in a trap. Half turning away from me, she replied that she thought it was OK because they had been ranch-raised, and anyway Marlon Brando had given it to her!

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

An article by former U.S. attorney for Minnesota Andrew M. Luger in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Oct. 19, 2025, reads: "There's a dangerous new wave of violent extremism in Minnesota: For some, left and right don't matter. All they care about is violence." Luger's remarks are a wake-up call for educators, parents, law enforcement and public health authorities.

The wave is being spawned via the internet and attracting what law enforcement and nongovernment analysts call Nihilistic Violent Extremists (NVE) to graphic online sites of sextortion, animal torture and killing, and mass shootings. Their compulsive engagement could lead to acts of violence or self-harm.

What critical experiences during childhood and adolescence contribute to NVE and an inability to empathize and find meaning, purpose and compassion remain to be assessed. In these dystopian times, it is a challenge to identify causative factors. Monitoring and sanitizing the internet of violent and hateful postings and platforms is hardly feasible now that energy-consuming (and therefore climate-change-accelerating) AI is unleashing deepfake images and videos globally. These tactics are also being utilized politically and for dissemination of conspiracy theories, and they could well lead to a global mental health pandemic of hate and violence.

Of particular concern is the use of AI therapy chatbots. A new study warns that these chatbots often violate core ethical standards, raising questions about their safety and accountability. The bots consistently showed poor contextual understanding, weak collaboration skills, deceptive empathy, bias and unsafe crisis handling. In multiple test sessions, the bots often gave generic advice, reinforced delusions and misread cultural or family dynamics, exposing users to potential psychological harm. For details, go to psychiatrist.com/news/ai-counselors-cross-ethical-lines/.

CRYPTO BILLIONAIRES EXACERBATING CLIMATE CHANGE

The rise of the cryptocurrency industry completes the circle of nihilism as server data centers metastasize around the world, exacerbating climate change if not powered by “green” energy (solar, wind and hydrogen), which petrostates oppose while investing in cryptocurrency.

It is notable that a Saudi petro-oligarch gave $2 billion in cryptocurrency to President Trump’s World Liberty cryptocurrency business, which purportedly generated $802 million in actual cash income during the first half of 2025. One digital currency transaction platform, Binance, worth an estimated $85 billion, was used by terrorist groups for illicit activities, from child sexual abuse to illegal narcotics and terrorism.

Bitcoin mining consumes roughly 0.5% of all energy consumption worldwide and is escalating. One Bitcoin transaction can spend up to 1,200 kilowatt-hours of energy, which is equivalent to almost 100,000 credit card transactions.

Karen Hao’s 2025 book, "Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI," explains that the AI race is on, fueled by coal and natural gas. AI-related data center spending in 2025 is expected to reach about 2% of United States GDP. Global private investment in AI reached $252.3 billion in 2024, with U.S. companies and investors dominating the spending. Generative AI, which is part of the broader AI field and a precursor to AGI, attracted $33.9 billion of that private investment in 2024. In 2025, CNBC reported that total global AI spending is expected to reach $375 billion. For more insights, go to mindset.ai/blogs/in-the-loop-ep30-the-real-cost-of-agi#:.

DEAR DR. FOX: I appreciate you covering some environmental issues in your columns. I came across this posting that your readers, at least those who are not in denial, will find relevant. "Extreme Weather Caused More Than $100 Billion in Damage by June -- Smashing U.S. Records" (livescience.com/planet-earth/climate-change/extreme-weather-caused-more-than-usd100-billion-in-damage-by-june-smashing-us-records).

“The first half of 2025 logged the most damaging extreme weather on record in terms of cost, even after accounting for inflation, data shows. This is partly because of a handful of extraordinary events, such as the Los Angeles wildfires. But the number of natural disasters that struck this winter was also 'exceptional,' Paul Ullrich, a professor of regional climate modeling at the University of California, Davis, told Live Science. All told, the first half of the year likely incurred $93 billion to $126 billion in damages, half-year estimates from insurance companies Munich Re, AON and Gallagher Re suggest. This total smashes the previous most costly first six months on record, of $57 billion (inflation-adjusted), set in 2023, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data.” -- J.R.M., Washington, D.C.

DEAR J.R.M.: Thank you for this disturbing wake-up call for all petrostates. The plight of Alaskan coastal communities, where climate change is rapidly melting permafrost (and releasing more methane, a greenhouse gas), calls for federal emergency aid. According to the Hopi Message there will be ever-increasing suffering from one generation to the next until Koyaanisqatsi, living out of balance, becomes Lomakatsi, life in balance. See drfoxonehealth.com/post/the-hopi-message-prophecy.

Climate change deniers cannot ignore the recent devastation of Jamaica and other Caribbean Island communities by the Category 5 hurricane Melissa. All should realize that planet Earth is at a tipping point. We are in a battle to save the soul of the Earth, Nature, mother of us all.

We are also all in a battle to save the soul of humanity in how compassionately the homeless and refugees, many being victims of war, colonialism and climate change, are being treated. This is a social responsibility of every democracy. Empathy should trump Immigration and Customs Enforcement, now empowered with smartphone spyware to entrap and deport without due process, even separating families.

Animal rescue organizations need more support in the battle to save animals abandoned and injured after extreme weather events and in times of war.

All these battles, and others such as social justice and environmental protection, collate into an existential, spiritual crisis. The rules of law and justice are being eclipsed by the abuse of power, primarily for pecuniary ends in many countries. As 19th-century British historian Lord Acton observed, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)