20 years ago, in front of a diverse audience, in the halls of the Arrecife Gran Hotel, I presented a paper entitled: "Lanzarote, Unsustainable Island?".
In that talk, I tried to convince the attendees that the Island of Lanzarote had to reorient itself towards sustainability, that is, that it had to set itself the objective of being able to satisfy the needs of present generations, but without compromising the possibilities of those of the future.
I argued that for the Island to be sustainable, it had to be able to absorb its own waste. In other words, the waste generated in Lanzarote would have to be absorbed by the environment itself.
The laws of Nature require, and given our human behavior, always oriented to improving our comfort, that to achieve such a goal it is necessary to have, for each inhabitant of our Planet, about 2 Ha of green land, which would be responsible for absorbing all waste and waste derived from human activities.
If we were to make a calculation for the Island of Lanzarote in relation to this material requirement, the result would be far from the desired value (well below 0.30 Ha of green land/person), given that, under normal conditions, more than 150,000 people sleep on the Island every day.
The problem can be explained by integrating all of these human waste and waste into a single negative effect, which consists of emitting into the atmosphere amounts of CO2 far greater than those that these hectares of green land could absorb, so that the density of CO2 in the environment would, over time, make human life on Earth unviable.
CO2, as is known, is the biggest cause of global warming, and for two reasons. Either because it causes the greenhouse effect, or because its emission is always accompanied by exothermic processes.
And, it is also known, on the other hand, that a tree is the most effective natural weapon against the aforementioned global warming, since a large part of the natural food of plants is CO2.
The aforementioned human activity, which causes the emissions, can be divided into two components. On the one hand, the emissions directly produced by people, and, on the other, those generated by the production and management of Energy in enormous quantities.
The control of the second component will depend on the future evolution of the types of energy production, that is, on the fact that the sources of energy are gradually being replaced by those of the renewable type, and, consequently, this component of CO2 emissions will be, for a long time, beyond our control.
However, the control of the first component of CO2 emissions, the one directly produced by people, would be within the scope of our will, and within the reach of our personal work. Let's see.
This first component accounts for 10% of the total CO2 emissions caused by humans, which is estimated at 6 tons of CO2/person per year. That is, the emissions derived directly from humans would be 600 kilograms of CO2/person per year.
These long days of confinement, imposed as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic, have led many people on the Island of Lanzarote to redirect their gaze towards the long-forgotten primary sector, and, consequently, to focus our minds on the unique agriculture of Lanzarote. In my personal case, such reflections have oriented my thinking towards the search for a how, with an easy and simple task, we could improve our island environment by combating the aforementioned CO2 emissions.
I have spent many hours doing the relevant calculations, throughout these days, and, finally, I have concluded that, in the Canary Islands, we have fruit trees that are capable of consuming the said 600 kg of CO2, which are injected into the atmosphere per person per year.
Specifically, a Banana tree and a Prickly pear, on average, and both one plant and the other, consume 1/3 of the said 600 kg. That is, each unit of these trees removes about 200 kg of CO2 from the atmosphere per year. In this way, it could be asserted that 3 Banana trees, or 3 Prickly pears, would absorb in total, and as part of the natural food, the 600 kg of CO2, which, as indicated before, each inhabitant of the Island of Lanzarote, as a result of his sole personal activity, injects annually into the environment that surrounds him.
It would be concluded, therefore, that the inhabitants of Lanzarote, some 150,000, in order not to be directly indebted to their natural habitat, should take charge of planting, at least, 3 Prickly pears, or 3 Banana trees, per capita. Personally, and considering the ancestral problem of water scarcity on the Island, I would lean towards the Prickly pear, which barely needs irrigation, produces food for people and animals, in addition to providing other significant advantages, among which are the protection of the soil, the compatibility with other crops of the Island, and being a habitat for various animal species, as we Lanzarote residents know.
In short, considering the number of inhabitants who reside on the Island of Lanzarote, some 150,000, and having as objectives, to do justice to the environment, to seek balance with it, and to be at peace, and without any personal debt, with the Environment, it would be reasonable, from my sincere point of view, that, with the collaboration of entities, families and individuals, it should be ensured that the corresponding 450,000 Prickly pears are cultivated, or what is the same, that each inhabitant of the Island of Lanzarote, takes charge of planting, and caring for, his due 3 Prickly pears.
Silvano Corujo Rodríguez
President of the AC "Majadas de Mina"
