Changing what we eat to be ‘climate smart’

Some simple and relaxing efforts of preparing the soil for maximum fertility will ensure a forest-like 

garden that could be each person’s responsibility to tackle climate change 

By Ranjit Seneviratne 

The key strategy for sustainable ‘climate smart’ agriculture involves changing the food we eat, because we need to adapt our diet to suit the challenges faced by climate change. According to the Meteorological Department, prolonged droughts and excessive rains and floods would not reduce, but would probably increase. 

If so, then it makes sense to change the food we eat from water-dependant rice and vegetables that are ‘seasonals’ (plants that need re-planting after harvesting) to ‘perennials’ (plants that are harvested continuously) such as tree-based foods (jak, bread fruit), root tubers and weed-type herbs that grow wild and can be planted to create a forest like ambience, however small the garden space is. 

When we are more dependent on perennials, what is required is harvested and the rest continues to grow. These perennials are those such as manioc, sweet potato, engili ala, rathu ala kiri ala, innala, etc. and plant species such as moringa, cheena batu (soluropus androgenus), kathuru murunga, ambarella (spondias mangifera), sour sop/graviola, etc.), and weed-type vegetables (gotu kola, spinach especially gas nivithi, sarana, monara kudumbi gendha kuppamenia, thampala (amaranth) mukunuwenna (alternanthera amoena), and a host of other indegeneous and diverse edible plants that grow without needing any extra care.

These are so abundant and so easy to grow that forest degradation could be minimised if agriculturists and every individual with garden space collectively and individually adopt this method and opt to have ‘small forests’ in their gardens instead of lawns.

Research shows that humans have long intestines, like the gorilla and Orang Utan and no canine teeth or claws to tear meat. Therefore humans were leaf and fruit eaters for about five million years before the discovery of fire (only about 30,000 years ago) and may have also eaten roots and tubers, fish and insects, but no milk as cows had not been domesticated. It is time now for us to be aware that these are the foods we should be eating – the foods designed for humans by nature.

Meanwhile, research shows that humans have long intestines, like the gorilla and Orang Utan and no canine teeth or claws to tear meat. Therefore humans were leaf and fruit eaters for about five million years before the discovery of fire (only about 30,000 years ago) and may have also eaten roots and tubers, fish and insects, but no milk as cows had not been domesticated. It is time now for us to be aware that these are the foods we should be eating – the foods designed for humans by nature.

Therefore changing our food to eating perrenials and more natural food, especially so-called ‘wild’ vegetables, raw leaves and berry type fruits could perhaps lead to better health (as is now being promoted all over the world by renowned doctors and researchers) while also potentially reducing land use for animal rearing, seasonal agriculture and forest degridation.

As noted above, meat consumption was not part of the diet of early humans and neither were dairy products as cows were not tamed. While it is not a secret that the meat and dairy industry needs vast amount of land to be cleared (leading to tragedies such as forest fires) and huge amounts of water resources, excessive meat and dairy consumption is said to have negative impacts on human health, and as new reseach has shown, even dairy milk products could have negative effects, especially if sourced from types of cattle which have ‘Lectins’ (bio-poisons like ‘Gluten’ found in wheat and other grains).

Therefore if our people (who are not vegans and vegetarians for religious reasons), minimised or gave up eating meat and dairy products just for their health benefits, it would automatically reduce land use for animal rearing, which would not only reduce greenhouse gas emisions, (apparently third largest polluter) but also reduce significant use of forest areas for pasture. 

Minimising food waste

Another key strategy for ‘climate smart’ agriculture is to minimise food waste.

In Sri Lanka it is customary to serve food ‘Buffet Style’ – a mix of dishes from which people serve what they wish to eat. The host or the ‘Kitchen Depatment’ would naturally prepare extra to make sure food does not run out. This means that at least one portion is in excess – sometimes stored in the ‘fridge’ but often dumped in the waste bin. If we assume a million better-off households, then a million plates of food is wasted daily! More proof of this colossal waste is the fact that the incinerator (kunu mole) in Kirillapone was dismantled, because our waste was ‘too wet’ – and therefore too costly to incinerate, according to a previous Mayor of Colombo Municipal Council.

A peculiar habit of some Sri Lankans is to always leave some food on the plate (or at the bottom of the glass) – apparently to appease some friendly or evil spirit, but more likely to show that you are not ‘poor’ – a colonial attitude, according to others.

Therefore in order to minimise food waste, we need to serve food by ‘portion size’ – the practice in many richer countries. It is best that we imbibe a true Buddhistic philosophic sense into our eating practices where we eat with mindfulness, only what we need.

In adopting some of the above methods we would be responsible inhabitants of this planet and not be so out-of-touch with reality not to notice the heat and other effects of climate change – which, according to climate researchers could result in one-third of our country going under water by 2050 – unless we take action now – today!

Note – A simple and minimum-cost way to compost food waste is to use an old blender to reduce kitchen and table food waste with a little water to a ‘smoothie-like’ mix – a worm smoothie.

Then pour it into a small hole about 8 to 10 inches deep in the garden, cover with soil and in three days (depending on worm population) only small pieces of egg shell would remain, the rest would be composted and taken deep into the soil by earth worms and other soil biota. For balcony gardens, pour a little at a time (in rotation) into the bottom area of the pots through a small length of PVC pipe, making sure you have a worm population in each pot to do the composting.

To summarise: A ‘climate smart’ way to overcome climate change, would be to heal our soil with a covering of water-absorbing mulch and growing ‘ancient or heirloom’ and ‘wild’ agro varieties that are robust and thrive in forest conditions, rather than varieties ‘improved’ for bigger size and increased productivity, but are often less nutritious and need more care such as chemical fertilisers. 

Maximising the resource of soil

For the reader who wants some practical guidance on maximising on the resource of soil and benefitting from it while also treating the climate change challenge the techniques listed below would be useful:

1.For agro-forestry or ‘greening’ the land with trees, it is essential to ‘heal the soil’ first, to build top soil and water retention so as to maximise harvests and healthy, luxurious growth. This can be done even in a small garden space.

2.Minimise evaporation by pruning (which also increases fruit production and prunings make mulch).

3.Maintain a mulch covering of a minimum of four inches to build up top soil and soil biota. 

4.To make this mulch by small scale farmers and households it is suggested that an affordable mini-chipping machine would be useful or one can also manually chop the wood into small pieces and benefit from the exercise. 

5.Harvest rainwater, even in plastic tanks on a raised structure so that a pump is not required, but better still, make sure all rain-water goes into the ground, following the advice of King Parakramabahu, the Great.

6.Making a wet-land in the lowest area of the garden, by having a pond with a marsh around it or a flood plain area to accommodate excess water.

7.Unwanted grasses even when cut up are not suitable for mulching as they take root easily.

However, they (and the seed carrying part of weeds) can be used to make ‘artificial cowdung’ by putting them into a large black plastic bin (to keep out light) and letting them ferment. This in fact is a sort of ‘artficial cow’ because grass fermented by bacteria becomes cow dung. Likewise in a few days, the grasses/water mix producess a rich brown ‘compost tea’ while the solids becomes like dung with the characteristic smell and dark texture of dung. 

A ‘water tap’ fitted to the lower end of the waste bin would make it easy to draw out a ‘compost tea’ which would need to be diluted before applying to the plants. 

(Note: Thorns in plants and cacti can be harmlessly dissolved). 

8.Weeds could also be fed to chickens who are also living pest controllers (Tip: have movable enclosures, perhaps with wheels, to move the chickens to different locations in the garden, especially if the garden is large)

9.All the above methods used would increase the potential of the soil to grow perennials which provide continuous harvesting once planted. Sri Lanka is a treasure trove of perennial foods which some youth in this country unfortunately hardly know about because we have not included such knowledge into the education system.

10.Making ‘worm smoothies’ with our food and kitchen waste by adding a little water and blending the mix with a kitchen blender or the portable hand drill powered leaf chipping machine as mentioned above in this article

11.Pest control – In a forest garden, however small, there is no mono cropping as different plants are grown next to each other. They can be grown interpersed with insect repelling plants such as Margosa/Neem, Holy Basil and other strong scented plants. This is very effective against invasive species like the Sena Caterpillar and the Piti Makuna, as they are prevented from forming large concentrations.  In addition, just as leopards prey on leaf eating deer, there are insects that prey on pest insects, and this naturally happens in a forest garden, because there is a balance of insect fauna. But now there are invasive species that have no natural predators and therefore there Is a need for natural pest control methods. A traditional method is to use Margosa/Neem (Kohomba) seeds soaked in water in a container or concrete structure for about two weeks forming a very strong organic or bio-insecticide. It needs to be diluted before use. 

Margosa Oil mixed with soft soap or non-scented bar soap (to make the oil dissolve or mix in water) is another option. Fresh cow-dung dissolved in water and ‘dusted’ on plants and fruit is another natural method as insects do not like leaves contaminated with dung and monkeys too dislike to eat fruit contaminated with dung. Forest conditions are also favourable to insect-eating birds like the Drongo, now sadly lacking in numbers due perhaps to the use of insecticides which not only reduced their food source, but the toxins on the insects may have killed them.

12.Post-harvest loss can be prevented by processing excess production into pickles (with natural vinegar) and by fermentation (similar to Korean Kim Chee/German Sauerkraut with vegetables) and through setting up ‘cold-rooms’ (with different temperaures for different products) – similar to ‘Thrive Market’ in the USA. This could also be done by having a ‘PPP’ (Public Private Partnership) of the Government and supermarkets and co-operatives of small scale traders.

Let us be the change we want to see in the world. Let us use this knowledge and pass it on to others. For our sakes, the sake of the future generations and the planet as a whole, let us change, at least now. 

Therefore changing our food to eating perrenials and more natural food, especially so-called ‘wild’ vegetables, raw leaves and berry type fruits could perhaps lead to better health (as is now being promoted all over the world by renowned doctors and researchers) while also potentially reducing land use for animal rearing, seasonal agriculture and forest degradation. 

(The writer is a marine engineer by profession. He was Project Operations Officer, FAO, Rome and one of his projects dubbed ‘Blue Revolution’ by the locals, resulted in the Government of Bangladesh winning the first Souma Award, given by FAO to a government that best developed an FAO project. His FAO Project in Eritrea was shortlisted for the Second Souma Award and two of his Project Managers won B.R.Sen Awards for excellence. He is currently a soil healing consultant who maintains his Colombo home garden as a laboratory to develop various techniques of bio diversity conservation that includes rainwater harvesting. Ranjit Seneviratne is an advisor/educator at Earth Life Water Knowledge Trails.)