In April of this year the earth reached the highest concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere recorded since human beings inhabited it. The current record is 411 parts per million (ppm), in 1880 it was 280 ppm. These changes of gases concentration in the atmosphere has a direct impact on the temperature of the earth and its ability to maintain a balance in the environment.
The Paris Agreement has sought to unite all possible countries to carry out actions that can stop this temperature increase to only two degrees Celsius. However, even with that limit it is projected that there will be a loss of more than 18% of some species. In prehistoric times the concentration of these levels reached 700 ppm, but it was caused naturally. What is impressive now is how it has grown rapidly and by human activity.
For more than 44 years, the UN declared June 5th as the International Environment Day. This is the most important day to commemorate and carry out actions towards environmental protection. Under the current difficult scenario, thinking only about the protection of natural resources is not a complete vision if the participation of human beings is not contemplated as part of the environment, as part of nature and the cycles that take place in it.
The social approach of the environment allows us to understand that the loss of natural physical resources has social consequences, beyond the loss of a species of algae the balance is lost within the whole chain. With the impact that human beings have caused to our ecosystem, today it should no longer be optional or considered a “good cause” to have actions to mitigate our impact. The reality is that many more actions are needed to make our participation as human beings a positive interaction in these cycles, without damaging or breaking them.
In the process of achieving sustainable development, the solutions that can achieve the greatest impact in mitigating climate change have to consider the different pillars of sustainability: culture, the environment, the economy and the social sphere. To the extent that an action encompasses these four pillars, it becomes a more robust solution and therefore more likely to create a consistent change.
When we started Sistema.bio, we understood that we needed to go beyond a good technological solution, which by itself allows multiple benefits and impacts in different areas. Biodigesters as a product that generates renewable energy (biogas) and organic fertilizer (biol), however, do not represent major changes for communities if they are not accompanied by a process that allows them to make this system part of their life, allowing them to understand it and take advantage of the benefits.
Economic / social: These benefits represent savings for farmers in fertilizers and energy, but in turn also increases the productivity of their crops, which directly improves the diet of families without damaging the soil and, for those who sell their crops, it also represents extra income and local sources of employment.
This benefit makes it possible for farmers to increase their income as part of a natural cycle where the waste of one system is used to be the income of another, and even better, expanding the benefits in their community, because those who buy the harvest of these farmers can be sure that the fertilizer will not be harmful to their health.
Environmental/social: While the results of the biodigester have a direct impact on users lives, this system, in turn, reduces greenhouse gases from agriculture. As they start putting waste to the digester, the gases produced by waste are captured to produce energy, preventing them from decomposing in the open air and accumulating in the atmosphere, increasing earth temperature.
Much of this agricultural waste was destined to dumps or water sources that ended up contaminated, which represented a serious damage to the community because these rivers or wells were its main source of supply.
Cultural/social: In rural communities, especially in developing countries, such as India, Kenya, Nicaragua and Mexico, where the geography and infrastructure of the territories make access to any type of service difficult; Possible access to local energy sources changes the way people can change the wellbeing of their families without breaking the ecosystem. This is a profound cultural change, since culture connects our present with our past and the way we conceive the future.
Since farmers have a renewable energy source, they can stop spending time collecting firewood, stop cutting trees to meet their energy needs, and children who grow up with eco-technologies will know that there are ways to live harmoniously with the environment, without violating the ecosystem.
Today on World Environment Day, at Sistema Biobolsa we also celebrate the official launch of our operations in India to bring a sustainable solution to more than 50 million agricultural producers who have the potential to generate positive impacts on the environment, in culture, in the economy of your community and of our planet earth.
