Characterized by unsustainable agricultural practices that are ecologically destructive, today’s global food system is broken. With the industrialization and commodification of agriculture, agribusinesses have hijacked our food system. They have pushed fertilizers, pesticides, and GMO use into our food chain, squeezed out small farmers, decimated local economies and undermined food sovereignty. They also overproduce food that is not distributed equitably, causing an extensive amount to go to waste, leaving a lot of people hungry and dependent on foreign imports. Their purpose is to accumulate wealth – not feed people.

Localized food systems on the other hand, are rooted in ecologically sustainable practices and self-sufficiency. Growing our own food organically and ethically fulfils domestic needs instead of satisfying global market demands, and serves as an act of defiance against a toxic food system that is detrimental to our health, livelihood, and environment. Those of us who don’t have the space to garden (though even a tiny balcony has a lot to offer) should make it a point to buy from local farmers. Doing so will allow us to eat poison-free food that hasn’t travelled across the global to reach our plates. It will also help reduce food waste, dependency, and help us regain our environmental, social, and economic integrity.

Life is wholly dependent on the availability of water, and its scarcity will inevitably have dramatic implications on human survival. Challenges to meet our demands for water in the near future have never been more pressing, especially in the drought-prone Middle East, where access to safe water has come under increased threat due to a variety of reasons: climate change, absence of proper infrastructure and regulations, industrial agriculture, pollution, conflicts, and the privatization of water resources*.

Safeguarding fresh bodies of water, establishing proper networks, supporting infrastructure to keep it flowing, equitably allocating it, and reclaiming it from corporations that are draining it (through enforcing accountability and local agency) are duties to be carried out by the State. However, sustainable practices to save this finite resource are not limited to structural interventions – participation of the public is also crucial.

We tend to take water for granted and forget that the supply of freshwater on this planet is not inexhaustible. It is our responsibility to be conscious of how much we use, and refrain from abusing it. Every drop matters and should be treated as sacred. If we all made an effort to minimize our water consumption, whether in our kitchens, bathrooms, while doing laundry, or anything else, it would at the very least help ease some of the impacts of water scarcity. Even paying attention to leaking or dripping faucets can make a difference.

Consumerism is a model that constantly stimulates our desire to buy products. We are constantly bombarded with advertisements to keep owning products that, more often than not, we don’t need. How else can corporations increase their sales if they don’t brainwash us into buying so much junk? They would otherwise go bankrupt.

This, of course, comes at the expense of nature. There is an environmental cost associated with each good that we purchase. These products require raw materials that are extracted from nature, and in the process, forests get destroyed, wildlife goes extinct, animals suffer, and oceans and rivers turn into garbage disposals in order for mass production chains to be maintained. Not to mention all the waste and pollution left behind once these items lose their function and are turned into rubbish.

So, changing our consumer habits is important. Where and how we spend our money has consequences on Earth – we are part of the supply chain. For instance, if we buy products from companies that are responsible for deforestation, we have become part of the problem. It is therefore our responsibility to rethink our blind commitment to this consumerist culture by reevaluating what brands we support, and reflecting on how we can overcome this insatiable materialism.

Living in a healthy environment that provides us with clean water, soil and air is a collective need. We all exist as part of broader interactive ecosystems alongside animals, plants and other organisms. We are all interconnected and interdependent and cannot survive without one another, which is why we need to think of ourselves as pieces of a wider collective puzzle.

Protecting and conserving nature is everyone’s responsibility. The sustainable use of any resource requires a communal approach, as it belongs to us all – non-human species included. Protecting it yields collective benefits. Indigenous communities are known to be caretakers of nature and the best stewards of the environment, because they naturally have a community-based approach to managing their lands, waters, and forests. Such a concept is antithetical to the current system imposed on us, where a select few have monopolized access to resources and depleted them for the sake of maximizing profits.

Individualism, which lies at the core of the very same system that caused the environmental crisis, rests on making decisions and setting goals that serve certain individuals. It fails to consider the well-being of those who have the same rights to exist and thrive on this Earth. It undermines the idea of sharing of resources equitably and sustainably so that everyone can have their needs met. Instead, it promotes the interests of a privileged, powerful few with an unquenchable greed, who benefit at the expense of everyone else.

Doing our part requires us to understand that we need collaborative efforts, cooperation and kinship to address the environmental crisis, not selfish individualism that prioritizes the self over the collective. Acting independently will not get us anywhere. We need that sense of belonging with one another to secure a better future. It takes a village to make a difference.

Everyone wants to appear more sustainable these days and profit off of the ‘green’ cause without doing any of the actual work. Global North governments and leading corporate polluters from various industries are calling for nature-based solutions and making pledges to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. It all sounds great until you realize that these misleading claims are often used to greenwash their image while reinforcing new forms of extractivism.

Instead of halting their environmentally harmful activities and tackling the source of the problem, they keep their model of profit maximization firmly in place so that the money keeps coming in. Meanwhile, they launch ‘green’ schemes that often come at the expense of marginalized communities. This allows them to divert attention from their destructive practices, while they continue to plunder resources,grab lands, and dispossess more people in the Global South in the name of ‘environmental protection’. It is a ploy to further entrench 500 years of colonial power.

So take heed: any ‘green’ project that is not locally conceived, fails to consider the welfare of the people, and doesn’t address the structural changes needed to end the crisis, is just another oppressive tool — a colonialist masquerade that must be confronted.