The economy vs. the environment: where do we turn?

The irony you refer to in today’s (Friday, Dec. 7) editorial may reflect the larger irony of our inability to reconcile economic and environmental interests. Where do we turn for trustworthy guidance on these complex issues?

As an educator I have been tracking the literature on sustainability for 50 years, and the most impressive source I have seen in all that time is a report called Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, a 2017 book edited by Paul Hawken, who assembled the team of contributors to the document and organized their work. One example will show its value: the author of the essay on ‘marine permaculture’ makes a case for more productive use of the ocean (it’s all one) that occupies about 70 per cent of our planet’s surface. Not only are we failing to tap the enormous ecological benefits available from the ocean, but we are fouling its waters and destroying its bounty. Think of the vast kelp forests that we could seed. According to the author of this part of Drawdown we could ‘farm’ the ocean to produce on a continuing basis more of our needs than we harvest today from all of our land farms. Naturally there would be a transition involved, but that would be preferable to continuing the destruction of fish stocks, coral reefs, etc. and increasing the acidification of the ocean caused by carbon dioxide.

I suggest that schools and libraries obtain multiple copies of Drawdown and actively promote its use by readers. I believe the report would serve as a good source for a seminar.

Noel Lyon, Summerside