Today we are literally consuming the earth and our future. We have separated ourselves from the well-being of our planet, fragmented Earth into parts, each to be mined as material for industrial processing, creating only ever-growing waste and pollution.
Today it is also clear that new diseases like the corona virus, and other infectious ailments including Sars, Mers, Zika, Ebola Etc., are being created only because a globalised, industrialized and in-efficient food and agriculture model has invaded the ecological habitats of other species. This model is manipulating animals and plants, showing no respect for their integrity – and their health.
The corona virus health emergency is connected to other emergencies as well. It is linked to the extinction emergency and the disappearance
of the multiple species from earth. It is connected to the climate emergency and destructive cyclones like Amphan. All these emergencies are in turn rooted in a mechanistic, militaristic, and anthropocentric world view, wherein humans are considered separate from – and superior to – other beings, whom we can ‘own’.
These emergencies are also rooted in an economic model based on the idea of limitless growth – and limitless greed. And we participate in ‘greed’ economy by becoming ceaseless consumers, keeping the greed machine running with our consumption. If we continue in this way, the end of the earth’s capacity to support human life is certain. We will undoubtedly join all our fellow beings who have now gone extinct.
But how put a species that in its anthropocentric arrogance, thinks it is more intelligent than all others create the conditions of its own extinction?. The answer is clear – we have been made utterly impervious to the destruction of the ecological conditions which our own species needs to live. This has been accomplished by multiple constructs that accompany fossil fuel industrialism, including one that reduces us to being only ‘consumers’. Turned into perpetual consumers, we participate in a ‘ throwaway’ culture – throw away packaging, throw away clothing, even throw away people.
This also applies to industrial food, fast food and what I term ‘fake food’. When you consume organic food, for instance, one unit of energy input gives you about 10 units of energy in return. This food is good for the planets health and your health. In
contrast, industrial agriculture uses 10 units of energy to produce one unit of nutritionally empty food. And when this is industrially processed, it uses about 100 units and can give chronic diseases.
Now, the current situation offers us a valuable moment to think. The pandemic lockdowns have taught us that we can do with less – we actually need our essentials and not multiple brands. With this in mind, we can expand our consciousness into rethink our entire consumption patterns now. We can make choices that heal our planet while healing our own bodies and minds. We can think of ourselves as being earth’s citizens instead of just consumers.
We can recall our own innovative capacities – and we can even help to regenerate the earth, while it still supports our existence.
