A pact to save the planet
The Nature Conservancy, the authoritative working group that has been running challenges to safeguard ecosystems, the environment and nature since the 1950s, wonders if a unified pact between development and conservation can lead to a better future .
The example to which it relies is that of a small town in Kentucky, called Louisville, where we are witnessing a real marriage between ecology and science, which we will discuss below.
The answer is affirmative, the new scientific point of view says "yes", but there must be new forms of very strong collaboration between sectors - and countries - normally "disconnected" and far from each other.
Moreover, by making way through resistance and so much reticence, the awareness of the ongoing ecological crisis has paved the way, for several years already, to new emerging disciplines, including Environmental Humanism, Environmental Humanities, which combines philosophy, environmental ethics and ecocritica.
The Green Heart Project: trees and men
Here in Louisville Kentucky - better known as the home of the famous boxer Muhammad Ali, the Kentucky Derby, and even Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC!) - the University is carrying out a project called The Green Heart Project, founded by "United States National Institutes of Health "and which includes many other realities.
It is a project that aims to demonstrate that, by planting trees in the vicinity and throughout the city, beneficial effects on the health of residents can be scientifically monitored over time according to a concept of environment as therapy.
Perhaps there is no need for scientific evidence to understand that the proximity of a tree is really good for human health - after all, in a holistic sense the forest bathing had already shown it for a long time - from the air we breathe the influence on his mood, but this project, not unique in the American town, represents a new way of thinking about the role of conservation in solving the problems of the human being.
It is an emerging model for a transversal sector that intends to create a world ready for the challenges of environmental sustainability to be pursued now and in the future.
To learn about positive examples: here is the facebook page dedicated to the project; and here is the video from a year ago that illustrates the green project in just a few minutes.
Ten years to create a sustainable future
Moreover, we do not have much time: according to the research carried out by “An Attainable Global Vision for Conservation and Human Well-Being”, there are ten years to give a decisive change to the way we see and understand the relationship between progress and conservation
The thing that makes the transition even more difficult is that the planet needs all the countries of the world to forge a close collaboration on a global scale, something that has not been seen for decades, perhaps since the Second World War.
We must start the journey from energy, therefore from the use of renewable sources, in order to continue with the way of eating, so subsistence must stop being seen intensively and the consumption of meat must be drastically reduced, as it should be. say stop to the exploitation of seas and oceans.
The challenge is not simple , but we must welcome it and put into practice the new sustainable behaviors quickly.
Forecast 2050: stop the vicious circle
More and more studies and researches highlight the need to redesign a world in which riches and needs are adequately met, a world where the growing population no longer puts so much pressure on the planet's natural resources.
In fact, considering that in 2050 there will be 9.7 billion people on earth, an increase in the demand for food by 54% and 56% of energy demand is expected and, as Nature points out, the world to all this, right now, it's not ready.
If you do not decide to drastically change the way of doing things, call for being trapped in a vicious circle of environmental degradation, polluted air, increased temperatures by 3.2% and droughts.
