Dear Friends of ELIANT,
During this last 'Corona year' we have been able to sense and experience how important nature is for us. Whoever had the opportunity of taking extended walks outside, working in the garden and with more time, enjoying the beauty of the mountains and the tireless movement of the ocean waves, will know how much strength and also comfort it can give. And whoever misses out on this will feel it as a particularly painful omission.
The earth is our home and the foundation for our existence – and yet it has never been as endangered as it is in our present time. To the ecological crisis with its many economic causes and the continuing mass extinction of plants and animals, is now added the climate crisis. Because of this mankind and nature are suffering increasingly heavy rainstorms and flooding as well as larger and smaller mudslides and also harvest failure due to drought and soil erosion.
What can we do? The earth needs help from all of us! Simply carrying on as before because we are well supplied and the countries facing starvation are far away – is not an option. More and more people experience this. And it is good that we can do something about it if we want to. There is a lot which everyone can contribute in their own field of activity. The major study by FiBl published in "Nature Communications" fibl.org describes in a detailed and impressive way how:
- We can help maintain the fertility of the soils by purchasing organic products. This is confirmed in a study by the Boston Consulting Group.
- In order to provide enough food for the entire population of the world the area down to arable crops should only supply human food; this means that the population of pigs and poultry must be drastically reduced and cows, sheep and goats should be exclusively fed on roughage i.e. be grass fed. As a consequence we must reduce meat consumption by at least a third. And since this is also more heathy, we should do so willingly! The daily intake of meat is partly responsible for many illnesses of our civilisation and on the other hand eating meat twice a week as part of a balanced diet benefits health.
- The wastage of food must be avoided especially at home.
Fundamental changes in lifestyle are required. You can find more information on our website under News and Activities.
The unique and precious nature of the earth which makes life possible has been described by the Apollo astronauts: "When we look upon the earth from outer space we see this amazing indescribably beautiful planet, it looks like a living breathing organism. At the same time however it looks so fragile." We are currently looking for traces of life on Mars while simultaneously destroying the foundations of our own life on earth – we very much hope that this newsletter will help to change this!
With best wishes from the ELIANT team
Michaela Glöckler
With warm thanks for your donations!
