Climate Crisis: UN Says Change Diet and Farming Practices

August 11, 2019 / activist360 / Leave a comment

The world needs to change its diet, revise its farming practices, and stop wasting food if we want to avoid catastrophic levels of climate change. That is the urgent message from the UN Inter-governmental panel on Climate change. But as Sarah Morice reports, the panel stopped short of calling on people to become vegetarian or vegan.

Youth & Climate: First Foods and the Fight to Protect Indigenous Lands

August 10, 2019 / activist360 / Leave a comment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps3Bd4vc6jU&feature=youtu.be

“These lands have been here longer than humans have. They need a voice – and to share my voice on behalf of the mountains, the forests and the rivers is an honor and a privilege.”

Meet Katherine, an indigenous (Nimiipuu, Liksiyu, Numu) young person from Oregon who is using her voice to to raise awareness around the protection of First Foods and indigenous lands from the impacts of climate change.

Climate change could alter the growing conditions for First Foods, traditional roots and berries. Scientists project that air temperatures in the Pacific Northwest will increase 3°F by the 2040s, and even relatively small increases in temperature can alter conditions that sustain life. With temperatures changing too quickly for native plants to adapt, their range may shift north or to higher elevations for cooler temperatures. Some may become extinct.

Katherine currently works with the Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network – International to help lift and empower women’s voices in the climate movement.

The Eco-Rebels of the Himalayas

August 4, 2019 / activist360 / Leave a comment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvuFTNO9wNQ&feature=youtu.be

An Indian state in the Himalayas has completely transformed its agriculture and switched to organic farming. Sikkim has become a model for the rest of the world, because its farmers only cultivate their fields and plantations in a sustainable way.

In 2010, the Prime Minister of Sikkim launched the so-called “Organic Mission,” developing the state into a model of sustainable farming. To protect its own organic farmers and consumers, the Sikkim government has even imposed an import ban on conventionally produced fruit and vegetables. This means that the authorities have the power to bury or destroy vegetables and fruit contaminated with pesticides and agrochemical giants such as Bayer or BASF are not welcome in Sikkim.

Would that approach also work in Germany? The growing demand for organic food in this country offers farmers an opportunity to switch to sustainable farming. But in Germany the percentage of land under plough conforming to sustainable methods remains very low. Although the government has set a target of 20 percent organic by 2030, this figure had already been proposed by Gerhard Schröder’s red-green coalition back in 1998. Germany is still far from meeting its demand for organic food. That means fruit, vegetables and cereals have to be imported from Spain, Italy, Turkey or even further afield. Critics accuse the government of a lack of commitment and an excessive dependence on lobbyists from the agrochemical industry and farmers’ associations. The incentives for organic farming are extremely poor. Can Germany now learn from far-off Sikkim?