Climate anxiety in children is at an all-time high. In fact, leading scholars surveyed 10,000 children in ten countries during 2021, discovering that “59% [of children] were very or extremely worried and 84% were at least moderately worried” about climate change.
The anxiety these kids experience is understandable: Scientists are now saying we have 60 harvest cycles left and 15 billion trees are cut down each year, resulting in the loss of 75 billion tons of soil. But our kids shouldn’t have to grow up like this. Our children and future generations need a future in which thriving, not just surviving, is a possibility.
And the great news is that the technology and information we need to equip ourselves to regenerate our land, our food systems, and our soil already exists, and a lot of people and organizations are working on solutions to do just that.
For example, organizations like the Canadian Organic Growers Association now have entire pages devoted to helping people understand regenerative agriculture. Experts around the world are hard at work dispelling myths and establishing basic vocabulary and principles to help growers and the public better understand this essential movement. Brilliant practitioners and thought leaders like Nicole Masters have written books like For the Love of Soil that are welcoming curious citizens and farmers alike into this exciting conversation.
Planting trees early in spring,
For The Future, by Wendell Berry
we make a place for birds to sing
in time to come. How do we know?
They are singing here now.
There is no other guarantee
that singing will ever be.
Plus, the 5th World team is hard at work training up a community of regenerative agricultural experts. We are working to promote and educate others on regenerative land management techniques that can help reverse the effects of agricultural practices that followed the deforest, plow, desertify, and move on pattern. We’re also working to mobilize global financial capital to invest in the future of our food and water supply.
Our children and future generations must be ensured a future in which thriving, not just surviving is the goal.
Fortunately for the future of our children, there are many agriculturalists, financiers, and other experts who are currently hard at work to ensure an abundant future for today’s kids. And the data, even in these early stages of regeneration, is deeply hopeful. For example, just one farm in Canada has the capacity to sequester enough carbon to offset over 400 Canadians’ carbon footprint per year.
There’s hope. We have the tools, science, and technology necessary to ensure this resilient, antifragile future for our children.
There’s hope. We have the tools, information, and technology necessary to ensure a resilient, antifragile future for our children. Each day, many people around the world wake up and face this challenge head on and do what they can to ensure that our future is bright. Our children’s future can be one marked by hope if we have the courage to continue to do what it takes to reverse the effects of extractive, degrading systems and put our energy and resources into regenerative, antifragile systems that will restore the health of our natural systems.
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