in Collaboration with TBA

 

Nature Champion: TBA

Imagine a Nova Scotia where everyone's basic needs were met? 

 

Plenty for All is part of Nature Nova Scotia’s Putting Nature First movement - a call to rethink how we live, consume and share the Earth’s abundance. Nature provides the foundation for everything we need to thrive: clean water, food, healthy communities, materials, energy and the natural systems that sustain life. Putting Nature First means recognizing that these gifts are not limitless, and that a healthy future depends on learning to live well within nature’s limits, while protecting and enhancing natural systems. 

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In addition, we have options to produce the things we need in ways that actually enhance natural systems. For instance, farmers can use the recent developments in microbial science to rebuild fertility and increase carbon in their soils while reducing dependence on expensive chemical inputs. We can cultivate seaweed for food, fertilizer and fuel while creating habitat for fish and improving ocean water quality. Foresters can use well-known selective logging methods to keep our forests growing and maturing, providing rich habitat for wildlife while building soils and enhancing the health of water courses.

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A key part of this is consuming less and sharing more. Rather than measuring prosperity by how much we buy, own and consume, we can focus more on what we truly need to live good lives. We can repair, reuse, share, borrow, grow, give and make better use of what we already have. Reducing unnecessary consumption takes pressure off nature while opening up opportunities for more meaningful forms of prosperity - time, relationships, community, creativity and connection to place.

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Plenty for All also recognizes that a healthy relationship with nature must include fairness and the opportunity for everyone to meet their basic needs and thrive. Wealth and resources are not distributed equally, and a culture of putting nature first cannot simply ask those with less to consume less while others continue consuming at destructive and unsustainable levels. We need to explore how we can share resources, create opportunity, reduce waste and build communities where everyone has enough to live well.

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Ultimately, Plenty for All is about moving from a culture of more to a culture of enough - and from individual accumulation toward shared wellbeing. From there, we can learn to steward the increasing natural abundance that is possible. By caring for nature, consuming more thoughtfully and sharing what we have, we can reduce pressure on the natural world while creating stronger, healthier and more equitable communities. Care for nature. Share what we have. Help everyone thrive.