About us

Down2Earth exists because it is impossible to separate human quality of life from the environment. A healthy ecosystem sustains life on earth and provides the raw materials that we need to meet our basic human needs. We are currently living in an age of unparalleled exploitation of natural resources and over reliance on finite fossil fuels such as oil and uranium. Rising carbon emissions and large-scale deforestation of old growth forests are altering global climatic patterns at an unprecedented rate, threatening biodiversity and affecting the very processes which supply us with breathable air, clean water, fertile soils, building materials and a habitable climate.

In addition, high external chemical output from modern farming techniques has intensively degraded soil quality and ground water reserves, and made agriculture less economically viable. This is particularly the case for small-scale farmers in developing countries, where monocropping and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been aggressively promoted through US and EU agricultural policies of free trade and high subsidisation.

The human impact of such activity is sickness and starvation on an enormous scale. Millions of children and adults worldwide are dying of preventable diseases because they lack essential facilities such as food, clean drinking water, sanitation and healthcare; in addition, people living in disadvantaged circumstances are most vulnerable to natural disasters. Despite vast overproduction of food (the food that we are currently producing could feed an estimated 12 billion people), millions of people are dying of starvation.

World hunger is not a question of food production. It is a question of equal distribution through decentralisation of power. As well as provision of basic human needs, education and vocational training programmes are required to enable people to become independent and self-sufficient, and empower them to participate in decision-making processes which impact directly on their lives. This is what Down2Earth is working towards. Click here to see what we are doing.