By Elena Coll
The world needs diversity. Each and every single organism on this earth serves a purpose, and all lives depend on one another. Bees depend on flowers, and flowers depend on bees. Worms depend on soil, and soil depends on worms. We depend on this Earth, and right now the Earth depends on a shift in human action.
Animals, plants, insects, microorganisms, and ecosystems make the world go round. And it is our job to change the way we do things and redirect our eyes to what matters: the planet that gives us life and gives us a home. And the first step in doing so is learning to respect the homes of others. At Sistema.bio we believe the key to sustainable societies lies in making the most of what we have, leaving what is not ours for nature.
Everything we consume comes from nature, what we wear and what we eat are an essential part of our life. But the exponential growth of the population, as well as our consumerist thinking, have created an increase in the demand for food and resources.
Agriculture is the base of modern societies. Our history begins with farming, and we believe our future does too. That is, with sustainable farming practices. This means practices that take care of the lands that we have, that look out for our soil, our water, our seeds, and our air. Practices that give back to the earth. We have so much already! There is no need to take what is not ours.
One thing is clear: we cannot continue down this road. We cannot continue chopping down the rainforest. We cannot continue polluting our rivers and drinking water out of small plastic bottles. We cannot continue building our societies toward the maximum comfort without caring for the consequences. So many of us consume products every day without having any idea of what is in them, or where they come from! The system must change. And it will.
At Sistema.bio, we believe the key to change lies in agriculture. We owe so much to those first farmers, the ones that learned how to sow a seed and harvest its gifts. Entire civilizations started with that first harvest! And yet there is so much we have forgotten about their wisdom. How did we get from there to burning the amazon for soy crops? When did we make industrialization the crown of our societies? At what point did we decide lakes and forests were for us to take?
Today, and every day, we want everyone to have what belongs to them. We want farming lands to belong to farmers, and we want forests to belong to animals. We want rivers to belong to fishes and oceans to belong to whales. We want laws to protect our species, our rainforests, and our brothers and sisters.
As for us, we want nothing more but to continue doing what we do best: collaborating with small farmers around the world in creating value from waste. While agriculture is essential to our existence, it also has a negative impact on the environment. At Sistema.bio we believe that this is where we can make a positive impact on the world, through renewable technologies that help both the planet and small and medium farmers. Responsible and sustainable agriculture is essential to reverse climate change. We want more people using clean, renewable energy, more fields nurtured with organic fertilizer. We want farming lands to last for generations and natural environments to remain untouched.
This has been a difficult year for all. We’ve seen disease, bushfires, and plagues. We’ve caught a glimpse of where thoughtless consumerism and individualism can take us. It’s almost as if the Earth was giving us a warning: if we continue to exploit our natural resources, if we continue to destroy the Earth’s environments, this planet will no longer be safe for anyone to live in. If we continue to blindly take all we can reach, the planet will no longer have anything to give.
This World Environment Day, we want everyone to remember that there are options out there. It’s time to give back. It’s time for nature to thrive.
