I recently finished reading Our Sunburnt Country.
Anika has travelled to Antarctica, completed a PHD in Agricultural and Environmental Science & nailed a TEDxYouth Talk.
It is not just me that thinks she is great, she has been recognized as Young Farmer of the Year, Green Globe Awards Young Sustainability Champion and a Women of Influence by the Australian Financial Review, amongst many more that you can read about on her website here
Perhaps above all, Anika is a modern, passionate farmer, and as such is inextricably connected to nature.
In Our Sunburnt Country Anika shares her love for the land and demonstrates her commitment to solving the challenges that have emerged.
Anika and I both grew up in Regional Western NSW, so it certainly resonates with me how our communities feel like the canary in the coalmine when it comes to global climate change, the duststorms and 43 degree celsius plus days are hard to ignore.
What I love most about this book is the holistic nature of her argument and the vision for the future that she presents.
Anika masterfully blends the issues of global social inequality, politics, health, biodiversity and sustainable agriculture reform into the reality that we are facing and that is backed by science.
At times during the read I felt my eco-grief (the pain that our planet is dying) and eco-guilt (am I doing enough?!) kick in, but fortunately Annika was able to pave a path and give me hope for the future.
My advice to anyone who is scared about reading about the climate nowadays is the knowledge that the evidence-based solutions are largely known, and that society is approaching a tipping point where these solutions can no longer be ignored or suppressed.
There is more work to be done, but this is largely around awareness raising, taking action within your own home, voting with your spending decisions and demanding more from your government.
A decision to focus on sustainable agriculture reform is a sensible way forward, nutrition is the foundation for health, everyone needs to eat - so has the opportunity to be a conscious consumer (especially people living in high wealth societies) and regenerative agricultural practices can enhance biodiversity alongside productivity of nutrient-dense foods.
At Planet Decent, we are proponents of Eco-health, the approach that connects human, animal and environmental health, Anika’s approach to me exemplifies this, and that is why I am Eco-inspired.
I encourage all reading to check out the amazing work Anika is doing, the book is available to purchase, free videos to review and her background can be found here.
Thank you for all your energy, courage and tenacity Anika. xx