There are 27,600 edible plants on Earth, mostly vegetables, and most of them are unknown to the majority of people.
We have not yet begun to explore the horticultural, health and culinary potential of our home planet ~ and now is the perfect time to do so.
Eating is our largest personal impact on the planet. The world currently loses around 75 billion tonnes of topsoil each year. Despite progress in some countries, global soil degradation is getting worse, not better. At such rates, scientists are warning we could run short of good farming soils within 50–70 years.
Equally important is the fact that 3 out of every 4 people in affluent societies now die from a diet-related disease. This pandemic of preventable disease now consumes three-quarters of our exploding healthcare budgets.
So there are two major reasons to radically change the world diet ~ health and sustainability.
Julian Cribb, respected science communicator and author, predicts a major boom in horticulture over the coming two decades ~ in the cultivation of thousands of novel crops, the development of new production systems such as aquaponics, biocultures and algae culture and green cities, and in the design of new foods and diets.
Repost of: Consumers taking a big bite out of the earth | Ecos Magazine
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