Reflections

What does Earth Day call for? Definitely not slogan-shouting or a day's fast for the planet. Some introspection on how our actions damage the planet and its ecosystem would be excellent.


If there are two things we do that harm the earth most, what would you pick? Well, these are the food we consume and the waste we produce. Our input and output (this covers more than our digestive system, to what our lifestyle outputs).


A shocking forty-five percent of all land on earth is today used for raising livestock and growing crops to feed them. Almost the entire goal of today’s international climate objectives can be achieved by replacing just 1/4 of today’s least eco-friendly food products with better alternatives. Replacing 1/4 quarter of today’s livestock products with alternatives would allow forest to regenerate on a vast amount of land and stop global warming in the next 5 years –- which many experts like the IEA believe may be the last chance to avoid irreversible climate disruption.




Danielle Nierenberg, director of Worldwatch’s Nourishing the Planet project notes how “relatively simple innovations to reduce the amount of food we waste, or to help the urban poor become more self-sufficient, can help agriculture feed the world without destroying the planet.”


Some 1 billion people worldwide experience chronic hunger, and 98 percent of these people live in developing countries. Global climate change will negatively affect agriculture by reducing soil fertility and decreasing crop yields. In preparation for these impacts, and in response to the land degradation that has already occurred, farmers in Niger have planted nearly 5 million hectares of trees that conserve water, prevent soil erosion, and sequester carbon, making their farms more productive and drought-resistant without the use of chemicals.


Agricultural practices that emphasize increased production have contributed to the degradation of land, soil, wildlife, and local ecosystems, and ultimately hurt the livelihoods of the farmers who depend on these natural resources. Ranchers and farmers in Dimbangombe, in western Zimbabwe, have committed 20,000 acres of degraded grassland to be communally owned, grazed, and maintained, with the aim of restoring the area’s plants and wildlife while sustainably raising livestock on the land.


Things are on the right track, but the pace has to pick up from the marginal to global scales.


Talking of waste, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that roughly a third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, which amounts to about 1.3 billion tons per year. In addition there is all the toxic waste and plastic we cast away. They litter the planet and may soon submerge parts of it unless we curb our wasteful ways and learn to use less or recycle better.


After all, less input equals less output. The least we can do is leave the earth in equilibrium.