March 26, 2024
Two cows in a pasture with a black and white image of the Earth in the background
How Food and Farming Will Determine the Fate of Planet Earth
by Jonathan Foley, Ph.D.
Agriculture has disrupted the planet more than anything we have ever done, including burning fossil fuels. A sustainable future depends on recognizing this fact – and radically changing how we farm and eat. More than any other invention in human history, agriculture has radically transformed civilization and our relationship with the natural world. How did this happen? Early humans didn’t farm to get food; they were hunter-gatherers living off whatever they could find around them. Often, this was a harsh existence, with rampant starvation, malnutrition, and short life expectancies. But then, from meager beginnings roughly 12,000 years ago, early forms of agriculture appeared around the world – most notably in Mesopotamia (an ancient region that surrounded the Tigris and Euphrates rivers), India, and China. Over the coming millennia, farming slowly spread, transforming landscapes, ecosystems, economies, and cultures. For most of history, people boosted their food production mainly by using more land. More farmland meant more food. By the twentieth century, people had cleared massive areas of farmland worldwide to meet the rising food demands of fast-growing communities, forming the extensive “breadbasket” regions we know today.
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March 21, 2023
Students in Lushoto, Tanzania care for seedlings at school.
Women leading climate action through agriculture, education, and health
by Carissa Patrone Maikuri
On March 9, Project Drawdown’s Drawdown Lift program hosted a lively discussion with the Clean Cooking Alliance about how women are leading on climate action and climate justice and implementing solutions that strengthen adaptation, boost human well-being, and mitigate future emissions. As a continuation of International Women’s Day, we embraced equity, focusing on two of the most defining challenges of our time—climate change and poverty. Watch the recording here.   Advancing gender equality is central to ensuring that our global community thrives and addresses the climate crisis. Women are problem solvers and central to guiding the world to reach drawdown, boosting resilience, and creating systemic change. Women must be represented in all levels of decision-making, and our agency—as leaders, activists, educators, and entrepreneurs—should not be underestimated. We also acknowledge our allies who continue to ensure that we have a seat at the table and that our voices are heard and valued.    Moderated by Wanjira Mathai, community builder and managing director of Africa & Global Partnerships with World Resources Institute, the event featured four amazing panelists who shared wisdom and tangible examples from the fields of agriculture, education, clean cooking, health, and climate justice. Panelists included: Makandi Laiboni, leader of the digital team for One Acre Fund’s Kenya’s program, Tupande, which designs and implements the organization’s digital vision and strategy directly for smallholder farmers. Natasha Lwanda, the former national chairperson of the CAMFED Association, who uses her intimate experience of poverty and exclusion to support vulnerable young women and girls to become influential change-makers in Zambia.  Patience Alifo, the co-founder of Econexus Ventures Limited, a Ghanaian-based biotechnology social enterprise commercializing sustainable biofuel and waste-to-energy production in Africa. Sohanur Rahman, the chief executive of a youth-led organization called Protiki Jubi Sangsad, or Bangladesh Model Youth Parliament, who also coordinates the largest youth network, YouthNet for Climate Justice, in Bangladesh. Each panelist had a different reason for why they were inspired to do the work they do, including experiencing extreme weather events and gender inequality firsthand, identifying major gender gaps that could lead to a pathway to prosperity, or advancing their personal commitments to give back to the community.  We know that climate change threatens decades of progress and exacerbates pre-existing inequities—particularly in countries most vulnerable to climate change who have contributed the least to it—but solutions are at hand. Building off Project Drawdown’s Climate-Poverty Connections report, panelists spoke to several of the 28 mitigation solutions that also substantially contribute to boosting human well-being, strengthening resilience, and alleviating poverty.
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