Please watch these videos as they are all quite short and very beautifully made.
I have made some notes below each video for your quick reference later, but there is much info in the videos and they are well worth watching.
(8 mins)
In the last 50 years the populations of wild animals have reduced by 60%. We and the animals we raise account for 96% of the mass of mammals and 70% of the birds on Earth. Without biodiversity, our planet does not work.
People are having fewer children and our world population may stop growing by the turn of the century. By investing in education and women’s rights and raising people out of poverty, this could happen sooner.
Reduce our impact to make sure that everything we do, we can do forever. For the biggest gains :
- Phase out fossil fuels and replace them with renewables.
- Upgrade to efficient food production and reducing our consumption of meat.
- Working together to properly manage our oceans; a global network of no-fish zones and a treaty on the use of international waters.
- Working to keep the wild populations we still have and encouraging nature wherever we can.
We need to become a species in balance with nature.
(8 min)
Two-thirds of the oceans are owned by no-one.
We need to protect phytoplankton as they create as much oxygen as all the world’s forests and grasslands combined and soak up vast quantities of carbon. Whales and other predatory fish are critical to the optimal survival of plankton.
In the last 50 years, pacific bluefin tuna and shark populations are down by 90%.
By 2050 there could be a greater weight of plastics in the ocean than fish.
We need to :
- Remove subsidies for high seas fishing.
- Currently only 1% of the high seas are protected. We could set aside a third or more as sanctuaries.
- Seek our products that never need to be binned. Live in a world where nothing needs to be thrown away, where everything is designed to last, to be repaired, upgraded, or recycled.
The UN is negotiating a treaty to protect all life in the high seas.
(8 min)
Grasslands used to cover one quarter of the planet. Most is now farmland.
- Reduce our consumption of meat and only eat meat from animals raised sustainably.
- Adopt smarter farming on a global scale. Controlled environments, robotic tractors, real time data, vertical farms, ocean crops, cellular agriculture, plant selection, and urban farming.
This would also be a much healthier diet for ourselves, saving around $ 1 trillion in healthcare costs.
(8 min)
Jungles help regulate global weather and are essential to our and our planet’s survival. They are home to half the species that live on land.
- Plant efficient crops on existing cleared land and restore jungles wherever possible.
- Use jungles gently in sustainable ways.
- Millions of eco-tourists visit jungles each year bringing revenue.
- Buy products that are guaranteed to be deforestation-free.
(8 min)
We have cleared nearly half of our planet’s forests.
We are still clearing over ten billion trees per year.
Forests remove almost 15 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.
We need to :
- Protect our ancient forests.
- Create new plantations to farm trees. There are two billion hectares of degraded land where forests could be restored. An area twice the size of Europe.
- Ensure our cities are filled with trees leads to a healthier environment.
(6 min)
Stop fishing in places where fish breed and grow big.
Only 7% of our oceans are given any protection. Scientists recommend this be increased to 30%.
Ensure optimal sustainable catch numbers are adhered to.
(< 1 min)
- Make your diet as plant-based as possible.
- Shop for sustainable fish and meat.
- Switch to a clean energy provider.
- Choose deforestation-free palm oil products.
- Buy wood and paper products from well-managed forests.