Since a number of our SmartConsult team watched the amazing; ‘A Life On Our Planet’ with David Attenborough, there has been some interesting not to mention inspiring conversations in circulation amongst our staff and our conscious communities.
Most of our staff are passionate about environmental conservation, and renewable energy and the great thing about solar, wind, and hydropower is that they are naturally and endlessly sourced. We are doing well moving away from fossil fuels, but collectively we can do better as individuals, small businesses, corporations and governments by making greener decisions.
Our favourite celebrity Attenborough made a number of recommendations to help us reduce the impacts of climate change. These included things that we can do as individuals to make a difference by living and eating more consciously such as reducing our power consumption and switching to greener sources of energy like solar. He also suggested eating a plant-based diet as this is much better for the environment too.
Animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of global warming. Attenborough says that if we all switched to a largely plant-based diet we would only need half the current farming land. Not everyone can switch to a vegan or vegetarian diet, but even reducing our intake of meat to say 2-3 portions a week, can make a difference. This is another reason why we have such a huge amount of land clearing in Australia with Queensland as a hot spot making koalas endangered as they lose their habitat.
Australia’s sugar crops are a big part of the reason the Great Barrier Reef is degrading. Looking for the ‘Bonsucro’ logo when buying items containing sugar can help to support responsibly grown sugar cane. Similarly, looking for palm oil-free or sustainable palm oil products will help keep the homes of orangutans safe.
Other recommendations include restoring biodiversity, particularly in the oceans. He says we can do this by either NOT eating fish OR by eating more sustainable sources of fish. This will allow fish in more protected zones to repopulate and extend out into non-protected zones, therefore increasing fish stocks allowing fish time to breed naturally and this will help support these eco systems.
Attenborough also says we need to curb population growth and not have such big families.
We hope that everyone takes the time to watch ‘A Life On This Planet’ and discuss it with their own friends and family. The film is available to watch on Netflix.