Coming up trumps with  Truffles!

What you can dig up for the Year of the Pig

By Ken Hickson

It’s the Year of the Pig and what could be important about this Chinese – or Lunar – New Year that gives hope to those of us who care about the future of the planet? Can we achieve a future Life on Earth to satisfactorily accommodate humankind, as well all the animals and plants we need?

I’m thinking about any connections there could be which link the common Pig with People, Planet and Profit, the triple bottom line conjured up by John Elkington all those years ago. And we came up trumps with “Truffles”!

It not only connects the pig with such a luxury delicacy as the Truffle – described as “the diamonds of gastronomy” by Francesca Sparvoli, co-owner of truffle distribution company Done4NY – which gives us a direct association with prosperity of course. But also demonstrates just one of the wonderful goodies we can get from the forest.   Wikipedia tells us that a Truffle Hog is any domestic pig used for locating and extracting the fruit bodies of the fungi, known as Truffles, from Temperate Forests in Europe and North America. Pigs have a great sense of smell, and are able to identify Truffles from as deep as three feet underground.   Pictured: Trained pig in Gignac, Lot, France, from Wikipedia.   It is thought that the natural sex hormones of the male pig are similar to the smell of the Truffles and pigs have a natural affinity for rooting in the earth for food. They are trained to hunt Truffles by walking on a leash through suitable groves with a keeper. This from Wikipedia. Read all about the Truffle Pig. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truffle_hog

What’s more the Pig, the twelfth of all zodiac animals, is also associated with the Earthly Branch (地支—dì zhī) hài (亥), and the hours 9–11 in the night. In terms of yin and yang (阴阳—yīn yáng), the Pig is yin. In Chinese culture, pigs are the symbol of wealth. Their chubby faces and big ears are signs of fortune as well. Read more about the Chinese Zodiac sign for the Pig. https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/pig/       Pictured: Pink Piggybank for the Year of the Pig by artist M Hickson

So the Year of the Pig is a good time to hope for the best. For prosperity and peace for the planet. That’s my analysis anyway. What’s more, it coincides with my commitment this year to “Focus on Forests” and the Sustainable Development Goal 15, “Life on Land”.

Read all about it in my earlier article “Why SDG 15 Life on Land is so important”: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-sustainable-development-goal-15-life-land-so-me-ken-hickson/ So let’s embrace the Year of the Pig. Let’s invest in forest management and biodiversity. Responsible farming and production.

Let’s also celebrate the work of the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year – in the Year of the Pig! – helping to protect and manage forests all over the world.

Ken Hickson, author of “Race for Sustainability” and “The ABC of Carbon”, runs a sustainability consultancy, SASA, based in Singapore, as well as the content creation agency The Hickson Team.