Dev Blog 13 - The Ecologist: Helping Us Understand Our World

//This Dev Blog was originally posted as an update on the Earth Rising Kickstarter on September 20th, 2021//

The Ecologist is able to place ‘Regeneration Tokens’ on any sustainable practices, thus allowing the practice to prevent one extra strain during the Societal Strain Phase. Every sustainable Agriculture practice allows the Ecologist to place one extra Regeneration Token.

This ability is particularly useful for reducing strain on sectors with fewer sustainable practises in play.

What is Agriculture, and why is the Ecologist its specialist?

The Agriculture sector is the means by which our society grows, collects and distributes food to its people, ensuring that they have enough to eat and with enough diversity of food-types that they’re able to stay healthy.

This can also include some naturally grown substances, such as cotton and hemp, which are grown for production of other goods, however the foremost role of agriculture has always been to grow food.

The Ecologist is the specialist of the Agricultural sector because in order to turn the tide of damage that the real-life agricultural sector places upon our world, we need to begin viewing the ground from which we grow our food as part of a larger whole. By more closely looking at the “health” of our soil, we can in turn promote the longevity of our world.

This health isn’t as simple as piling on more phosphorus as a sort of “growth injection”, as fertilizer firms would have our farmers believe, but about creating a self-sustaining network of plants, pollinators, and insect varieties that stimulate the local ecosystem and further bolster the natural needs for the crops we depend upon.

Unfortunately our current agricultural practices are largely destructive and focused on yield and appearance rather than quality or the health of our earth.

Yet sustainable practices such as agroecology, marine permaculture and habitat regeneration, along with reducing our dependency on imported foods could reverse the damage we’ve done and help us paint a healthy and sustainable future - without people going hungry!

As with all sectors, agriculture cannot work alone. The network of support created by all six sectors is necessary for change.

Thank you to the Permaculture Association for helping us with this sector of the game! Their work educating and supporting farmers and consumers to practice a “permaculture” lifestyle is invaluable, and they’ve been an immense help making sure that Earth Rising’s practices are those that will guide us to a more stable future, positive both for people and their planet.

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