Yesterday, on March 3rd 2022, we celebrated World Wildlife Day, which has become the biggest global annual event dedicated to wildlife. In parallel, the new IPCC report, published on February 27th, warned us about how "the increase in weather and climate extremes has had irreversible impacts, pushing human and natural systems beyond their adaptive limits".
More than ever, we are urged to act at a massive scale.
Of course, the particularly complicated international context may give this fight the status of “non-urgent measures to be taken in the long term”. Nevertheless, if you have read the IPCC report (if not, don't panic, it's right here) and you feel helpless in front of this flood of distressing facts, know that we are also in this situation; and that we have found a way to feel a little better in our daily lives. If the stakes we are facing are immense and require of course a strong action from the public and private sectors, we should not underestimate the role that civil society can play. Citizens are indeed the ones who define the demand, who vote and who have the means to transform their place of life on a local scale.
So, this month we have decided to support a great initiative that, to be sure, contributes to the preservation of biodiversity and the wild world.
Indeed, intensive and conventional agriculture such as the one that supplies the majority of our supermarkets is based on productivity and yield constraints, and thus depends largely on inputs (such as petroleum, phytosanitary, fungicides, herbicides, fertilizers, etc.) and mechanization. A report established a link between intensive agriculture and the loss of more than a third of the bird population in France in 15 years (Hendershot et al, 2020)... an alarming observation that also applies to insect and wild plant populations.
Thus, a massive change in consumption patterns on the part of citizens can push agriculture to return to more sustainable ways of operating. This is how you can act! We suggest you sign up for an eco-basket. Every week, or twice a month, or whatever you choose, you will receive a basket of organic, local, and seasonal fruits and vegetables whose varied composition will allow you to discover new tastes and flavors while supporting producers living near you and committed to sustainable approaches. Often cheaper than the market, some associations even offer unsold fruits and vegetables with an original appearance, or products in too large quantities refused by the stores. On the Paris campus, the association Noise is for example linked to Hors Normes, which offers you delicious products at 40% of their real price, without commitment and according to your availability.
So, find out more, those companies probably exist around you and this is an opportunity for you to contribute to a start-up. Talk about it around you: there are no small battles!
Jeanne de Pommereau
Sources:
Hendershot, J.N., Smith, J.R., Anderson, C.B. et al. Intensive farming drives long-term shifts in avian community composition. Nature 579, 393–396 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2090-6
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