I remember growing potatoes and funnily enough onions with my dad when I was a young lad of nine or ten. Back then it was what you did, we used to have a big timber box in the shed we would harvest the potatoes after the skin had “set” and fill the box for the winter. If we knew there was a few days of sun coming, it was my job to climb up on to the top of the shed and lay out the onions to dry, I liked that. I guess I must have learned something back then.

When I moved back to Ireland 16 years ago, I started growing vegetables again. The first carrots I grew were amazing, and I was proud of producing our food right there in our garden. It seemed the most sensible thing in the world to produce food naturally without chemicals. My time working in the chemical industry had thought me if nothing else that chemicals belong in a lab, not on our food and not in our environment. As the farm grew from a small garden to 40 acres there were many lessons learned but the over-riding principle of producing food sustainably never changed.

I had a great conversation during the week with a medical doctor, he is bringing the message to the medical community of how the relationship between sustainable food choices and our health is one and the same. This is a sign of the times and a hugely positive and timely intervention, getting our medical professionals to advise on healthy plant-based eating which benefits the environment is amazing. This is an example of the change that is coming. This is mainstream acknowledgement that things must change. Sugar coating the inevitable is not going to make climate breakdown go away. It is easier to pretend that nothing is happening, and everything is going to be ok, that the people in charge know what they are doing and that they will make the right decisions.

The people in charge are still running on the fumes of business as usual but that’s all about to change. Over the next 5-10 years massive change is inevitable. The future of our planet is dependent on it and it will bring sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, a reduction in consumption and a new outlook that right now is gaining massive momentum.

It seems to me that it is increasingly difficult to justify making decisions that we know are damaging the planet. 2020 is the year of the environment, the year when people taking action to save the planet reach positions of power. People in every walk of life young and old are fighting for our planet and are aware and are taking action. As a little island nation we have such an opportunity to lead the way, to be at the heart of a food and carbon revolution.

Green Earth Organics