NEGATIVE EVIDENCE
As human beings, we need to realize, know and accept the damage we are causing to the natural balance and cycles of the world. These are very complex, difficult topics and can be extremely scary for many people. But ignoring it is not a solution, on the contrary, it means the problem grows. Knowing how serious and bad the situation is does not mean that the course will not change. Being pessimistic doesn't help anyone.
Realizing the seriousness of the situation should increase the sense of 'urgency' to take action as soon as possible. If more and more people start taking steps to become the solution rather than the problem, the closer we can get to the solution. In this field, we mainly explain SOLUTIONS, but it is also necessary to understand the problem so that a solution can be sought.
Extraordinary natural events that have occurred in recent years around Belentepe Farm, at the foothills of Uludağ, Bursa...
Basic Problem:
In an environment with borders and limited resources;
increasing proliferation,
Increasing pollution,
Increasing urbanization
Unsustainable!!!
OUR EARTH AND ITS NATURAL RESOURCES ARE LIMITED!
Even a land with the most favorable climatic conditions and the most fertile soil anywhere in the world;
It can only produce a limited volume of product;
can receive a limited amount of rainwater;
It can provide a limited volume of raw materials and store a limited amount of our garbage.
Sustainability means not destroying or endangering the resources necessary for the future while meeting our current needs; It means being able to leave a reasonable life opportunity to our children and grandchildren.
We have to progress, develop and meet the needs of the increasing human population.
So, as we progressed and developed, what did we do to the balance and cycles of nature, which are our basic sources of life?
Clean Air + Clean Water + Clean Soil = Clean Food
Clean air, clean water, clean soil are actually our most basic living resources that should be among our basic human rights. If the air, water and soil are clean, we can talk about clean food. We all have very serious problems in our common life resources, but these problems are not given enough importance and the problems grow exponentially.
Clean Air
As human beings, we have changed the weather of the world in the last 200 years. There are various chemicals that were not previously found in the air we breathe, and there are serious increases in the rates of some gases. You will see the change in the weather in the table below.
AMERICAN Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellite maps have determined that the rate of nitrogen dioxide in the air, which pollutes breathing, has increased by 50 percent with the uncontrolled growth in Istanbul in the last 10 years. The pollution increase remained at 30 percent in Ankara and 10 percent in Izmir. In the USA and Western Europe, it was observed that pollution rates decreased by 20 to 50 percent compared to 10 years ago, thanks to the new regulations implemented. Determining air quality indicators using new and high-resolution global satellite maps, NASA scientists followed and compared air pollution trends in 195 different cities in various parts of the world between 2005 and 2014.
News source link
Clean water
Although 70.8% of the Earth's surface area is covered with water, only 3% is fresh water, and most of this is locked in glaciers at the poles.
Only 5 per thousand of the world's water is available for human consumption.
Humanity increased its fresh water consumption 6 times in the 20th century.
75% of freshwater consumption goes to agriculture – mainly for crop irrigation – industrial use is around 20% and the remaining 5% is used in households.
14,000 people die a day worldwide due to dirty water – the biggest cause of death.
In China, 80% of city water is polluted – half a billion Chinese people do not have access to clean water.
45% of rivers in the USA are polluted.
Artificial fertilizers used in industrial agriculture mix with underground and surface waters.
Many industries discharge their waste underground, polluting groundwater or directly into streams, polluting streams, lakes and seas.
We have consumed half of the world's underground water resources.
News source linkThe situation is no different in our country.
Clean, Living Soil
We have lost a third of the living topsoil in the last 40 years: pollution, improper farming, erosion... News source link
Horrifying picture: Land loss the size of Belgium in Turkey in the last 10 years... News source link
Normally, 2 cm of soil is formed in 500 years. (With permaculture knowledge, we can create new topsoil in a few years. Obtaining fertile soil )
Clean Food
We are what we eat.
When there is no clean air, clean water or clean soil, it becomes very difficult to access clean food. Almost all of the foods in urban markets, except for the organic section, are modern agricultural and modern industrial products and contain various chemicals that are harmful to health. Our health is affected.
Even in the USA and Europe, only 4% of the food consumed in cities is organic. News source link
Access to clean food is becoming increasingly difficult. We must strive to provide our own natural food by establishing local 'clean food access communities' for ourselves and our immediate environment.
We can find sources that produce clean food, we can establish community gardens to produce our own food.
Belentepe Articles: Clean Air, Clean Water, Clean Soil
'to progress and develop; We continue with the understanding that 'it is necessary to kill nature in order to feed the increasing human population', but this behavior has consequences:
symptoms
increasing pollution
Increasing diseases (due to various chemicals we are exposed to and changing climate conditions)
Increasing social unrest
Increasing abnormal climate events: floods, storms, fires, droughts...
Increasing casualties, material losses
Losses in food production, rising food prices
Mass deaths of creatures (bees, polar bears, whales, sea corals, trees...)
Migrations of animals: those who can migrate escape to more normal places (tropical sea creatures seen in the Mediterranean, tropical diseases that have the risk of spreading through migrating insects...)
CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate Change
According to a study conducted by Yale University in the USA, 69% of Americans believe that climate change is occurring, but only 52% believe that it is caused by human influence. In other words, half of the US population does not believe that climate change is caused by human beings.
97% of scientists argue, based on scientific data, that climate change is caused by human influence ( news source link ). According to a Yale University study, 48% of Americans, that is, almost half, do not believe that scientists have reached such a conclusion. But somehow 70% of people trust the scientific data of climate scientists. Naturally, there are serious contradictions.
If they tell someone who has skied on the snow tracks of Uludağ in February since childhood that the temperature in Uludağ will be above 20 degrees in mid-February and the snow will melt and the grass will grow, he would be UNBELIEVABLE. Because, as far as he knows and as confirmed by the elderly, February in Uludağ is always cold and snowy. Believing (not) is one thing, facts are another. Even if 97% of people don't believe in climate change, that doesn't mean it isn't happening. In February 2016, it was 26 degrees hot in Uludağ ( news source link ).
Again, according to Yale University research, only 56% of people are worried about climate change and only 38% believe that climate change will affect them. 67% never mention climate change. I don't think the situation is very different in Turkey. Mainstream media rarely makes a short report when an unusual disaster occurs, and that's it. Not many people talk about reasons and solutions.
It is very frightening that at least half, perhaps the majority, of people are so unconscious and careless about the biggest problem that will affect humanity. Continuing to run around daily, saying 'It won't affect me anyway'... BUT the truth is that climate change is currently affecting billions of people and its impact will rapidly increase.