There can’t be anyone left in this nation who hasn’t heard the innumerable facts surrounding climate change that prophesize our specie’s downfall, so I won’t bother convincing you to care about the most pressing crisis humanity has ever faced (because you shouldn’t need convincing at this point). I will, however, share a couple facts that you are less likely to have seen and which may offer a clearer course of climate action than you are familiar with. Because of climate decay, the earth is on the verge of mass starvation, not just for some but for everyone, and before we get to that level of certain death, we will have to deal with 6 months of every year with average temperatures as hot as the Sahara Desert. So let’s explore how we can act now so that our generation has the chance to live an average lifespan, and save our economy at the same time.
First, at current usage rates the world has 60 years of topsoil left. This literally means: in 60 years there could be no more food. If you are unaware of what topsoil is, it is colloquially known as dirt and is where 100% of our food comes from. All the vegetables we eat come from dirt, and all the meat we eat relies on those crops just as much as we do. As reported by Scientific American, our planet has lost half of its topsoil since the industrial revolution, and one third of all topsoil in just the last 50 years, so if you think that I’m being overdramatic about this timeframe, I can promise you: I am not.
To this point, you may see this new knowledge as no different from the other climate change platitudes: terrifying and pessimistic without offering hope. Well, I can now present that hope that we all truly wish to see, and that is the revolutionary idea that the answer to this existential crisis has been beneath our feet the whole time. Topsoil forms very slowly, gaining about 1 inch every 100 years, so it is out of the question to completely regenerate soil in the time required. However, by acting sustainably in the present, the world can actively promote global food security beyond the end of this century and completely reverse the rampant greenhouse gas effect that is the result of CO2 emissions.
By implementing regenerative agricultural practices now, French climate scientists believe we can completely reverse this crisis. The 4 for 1000 plan quantifies this plan by declaring that if each country increased the carbon content of their soil by just 0.4% annually we would be able to drastically offset anthropogenic emissions and pave the way to practices which will be our salvation. To spare you from the complex (but incredibly interesting) soil science, this goal requires the reduced use of pesticides and liquid fertilizer, using cover crops year round to prevent soil erosion, and a shift away from monoculture towards polyculture thus further strengthening the microbiomes in our farmland.
Those three simple changes require no new research or technologies and are already being implemented all around the world by those farmers who are particularly ahead of the curve. Additionally, they are cheaper than current methods of farming due to reduced costs involved in artificially propping up the health of the soil. In fact, they are not just cheaper but are actually more profitable by as much as 100 times. This may once again seem like a biased idea but it is actually true. By strengthening our soil’s health, our farms become more resilient by investing in numerous species of crop and preventing erosion, thus increasing potential profits while offsetting any unforeseen natural circumstances such as hail storms.
Although this piece has not been as opinionated as some of my previous writing, or any piece that you would expect to see in the opinion columns, the sad reality is that a lot of what I’ve explained is not often accepted as truth. The climate crisis is incredibly dangerous, and is the realest and most important threat that anyone of our generation will face. So many solutions call solely for legislative action, but as a school full of business students and STEM students, we have to remember that the real change is going to come from our own ideas and the implementation of them. I hope that business majors and engineers alike will consider helping the human race when considering career options.
Be First to Comment