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The relationship between people, nature and the land is a topic that demands our attention. Professor Jules Pretty shed some light on the topic with his 2010 papers “Dose of Nature” and “One Hundred Top Questions for Agriculture and Food”. Human wellbeing and the health of the planet relies on people approaching the way they live with a “green mind”.
Prof Pretty is a Professor of Environment and Science and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex in the UK. He has written a number of books and done a great deal of research over the years. He chatted to us about the relationship between people and the planet and the individual things we can do to improve it, as well as the larger policy things that can be done. He said:
The concern is kind of obvious really. Our consumption patterns across the world are using up resources more rapidly than the world can supply them and unless we make some changes it’s going to put us in a pretty difficult pickle if we aren’t there already.
Practical Advice From Professor Jules Pretty
- “Our consumption patterns across the world are using up resources more rapidly than the world can supply them and unless we make some changes it’s going to put us in a pretty difficult pickle if we aren’t there already.”
- Sustainability is about living within those absolute limits and taking responsibility for our actions. It’s about finding practices of food production, energy supply and manufacturing that don’t add up to a number that the planet cannot sustain.
- Stopping to enjoy the simple pleasures in life is not included in the GDP. Listening to the birds singing in the park, or noticing a beautiful sunset are behaviours that allow us to settle, become calm and forget the stresses and anxieties of the world. We consume a moment that produces benefits for us. These are the things that make us want to live and enjoy the day. They give us things to talk about.
- When you think about food production like this, people are paying three times for their “cheap” food:
- At the till at the shop.
- Costs to clean up the environment
- Taxes and subsidies are paid to farmers to encourage them to continue to use certain forms of agricultural systems.
