Above photo: As a way of helping food consumers make conscious, informed decisions, we suggest dividing global food and farming into two categories: regenerative and degenerative. Photo credit: Shutterstock From EcoWatch.
Before you dig into your Thanksgiving dinner, take a minute to thank the soil, Mother Nature and conscious farmers. Without fertile soil, without hard working farmers, there would be no food on our dinner plates.
That brings me to why an international delegation from the Organic Consumers Association and our new project, Regeneration International, is gathered in Paris. We are here to ask world leaders from the 190 nations attending the United Nations COP21 climate negotiations to hear—and to act—on our message of hope.
Our message is both simple and urgent. Healthy soils are necessary to feed the world. They are also the planet’s largest carbon sink. If we fix the soils, we can feed the world, and cool the planet.
You might think that’s a great message, but what does it have to do with you? Isn’t it up to scientists and farmers and policymakers to fix the soils?
The answer is this. It will take all of us—but especially everyone who eats food and everyone who votes—to heal the Earth. Our choices will make all the difference.
Please send a message to world leaders that we, the citizens of the Earth, will take action even if they won’t. Please sign our Pact for the Earth. You can also sign the pact by texting “soil” to 97779.
For far too long, the big agribusiness corporations have been allowed to pollute and poison with impunity. Their chemical-intensive, degenerative farming methods have moved 50-75 percent of the original carbon content of the soils into our atmosphere and our oceans. At the same time, factoring in transportation, packaging and deforestation, industrial agriculture has contributed an estimated 25-40 percent of the excess CO2 to the atmosphere.
We believe the solution to the climate crisis is obvious. We must replace our toxic, degenerative agricultural system with regenerative organic agriculture and land management practices. Only then will we be able to produce enough nutrient-dense foods to nourish and feed the world’s hungry. Only then will be able to regenerate the soil’s capacity to draw down and sequester carbon.
Sadly, we fear that world leaders here in Paris will continue to focus almost exclusively on only half of the climate solution—reducing fossil fuel emissions.
We can’t let that happen. If we don’t stop the degeneration of the world’s soils, if we don’t reverse global warming, we face a world of hunger, of resource wars, of natural disasters, of chaos. On a global, unprecedented scale.
Thankfully, there are signs of hope here in Paris. We are working with wonderful organizations who share our concerns, our passion and our mission. We will do everything in our power to make sure our message is heard and to support the healing work already under way.
This Thanksgiving, we are thankful for hope. And we are hopeful for change.
Please send a message to world leaders that we, the citizens of the Earth, will take action even if they won’t. Please sign our Pact for the Earth.