“Ethical Markets highly recommends this newsletter, with all the correct information we also find on how to eat better and for the planet, as our Advisory Board member, Frances Moore Lappe taught us all in her “Diet for A Small Planet“, see her recent interviews celebrating its 50th anniversary edition!
We are still waiting for the global food system perilously relying on the planet’s 3% of freshwater, to discover all our research on “Investing in Saltwater Agriculture“ TV program playing on our homepage, as well as our “Capturing CO2 While Improving Human Nutrition & Health“ (2018 ) !
Hazel Henderson, Editor“
Climate stories dominated the news again this week, for a very good reason: climate change is not going away. It is the backdrop to everything — in food and agriculture stories and beyond. The immensity of the problem often means that we, as individuals, can feel both overwhelmed and powerless to make a difference. There’s also the very real argument that individual consumption changes can’t make a big difference when 70 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988 can be attributed to 100 companies, more than half traced to just 25 companies.
In a recent New York Times opinion piece, Tressie McMillan Cottom wrote of advice she received from climate change expert and marine biologist Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. “Pick a thing,” she advised. “Part of picking your thing is trusting that your fellow human beings, your neighbors on this planet, are also going to pick a thing, and together we’ll pick enough things to start to move the needle.” For McMillan Cottom, that includes home composting, switching to a hybrid electric car and adding solar panels to her house. For us at FoodPrint, it means things like cutting out industrial meat and ditching single-use plastic.
It is true that sweeping changes in food, infrastructure and environmental policy are vital to get companies and governments to implement climate solutions. It is also true that when we commit to substantial changes in our own lives, as McMillan Cottom is doing, we “lay the foundation for the world we want to see,” as climate writer Jason Mark wrote, and in many cases actually contribute towards slowing climate change.
This week we cover two recent books that look at how we can fight climate change with what we do and don’t eat.