How can we live in balance with Earth’s natural systems to reduce the effects of climate change and work towards sustainable practices all over the globe? Consider this message from Sir David Attenborough:
The plan for our planet is remarkably simple: Reduce our impact by making sure that everything we do, we can do forever. For the biggest gains, we could concentrate our efforts on four goals:
1. Phasing out fossil fuels and replacing them with renewables. This will not only slow the warming of the planet and the acidification of the ocean, but it will lead to clean air for all of us.
2. Upgrading to efficient food production and reducing our consumption of meat. We’ll require far less space to provide for ourselves, leaving more for grasslands, reducing deforestation, our demand for fresh water, and feeding more people with healthier, more affordable food.
3. Working together to properly manage our oceans. A global network of no-fish zones and a treaty of use on international borders would restore the health of the ocean so it actually produces more fish for us all to eat.
4. Working hard to keep hold of the wild populations we still have. Encouraging nature wherever we can, in the ocean, on land we no longer need, and even in our cities.
If we make these changes, we’ll be a long way to becoming a species in balance with nature once again. We will have taken a remarkable journey, from a million people struggling to survive to several billion living long, healthy lives on a stable planet able to provide for all our needs. Only at that point will the Anthropocene, the age of humans, be truly underway. At that point, we’ll be proud to call it ‘Our Planet’.
Related reading at Scientific American: Children Change Their Parentsβ Minds about Climate Change.
Watch more from this series of videos from Attenborough, Netflix, WWF International, and Silverback Films: How to save our jungles, how to save our coastal seas, and how to save our frozen worlds.
Plus, don’t miss the Concurs de Castells human tower-building competition.
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