- Location
- Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
There were a couple of things in the news last week which deserve note.
First was the release of a UN report on climate change and land use. It ranges far and wide, and covers an array of how humanity is treating its home, and source of sustenance. But the headlines in the UK focussed on only one thing…. We should-apparently- eat a plant based diet to save the world. This, obviously enough, is going to pique my ire a bit, given that I’m producing red meat from untilled wildlife rich carbon sequestering moorland. I can raise livestock on these moors, but I can’t grow lentils. And finding the balance between the interests of close on 70 million people in the UK, and the best way to use my land, I don’t think I’m very far off the mark. Yet the urban based main stream media just trot out blanket statements to suit what seems to be a vegan fixated culture. I’m doing what I carefully consider to be best, they carelessly spit in my eye. How do you think that makes me feel?
I notice one TV news show dragged that unpleasant ‘rewilding’ creep from under his hessian rug. He’s fixated on removing my livestock and me from the hills, and letting it turn back into some mythical forest, positive that it will capture all the carbon released from burning 400 million years’ worth of fossil fuels. Sadly, my industry representative –who is a genuine and decent chap- wasn’t slick enough to counter the half-bakedwhimsical nonsense. The eco-bigot has his pitch off pat, making a living from peddling his fantasies.
And in case you don’t understand, it’s true that trees grab carbon as they grow, but as I’ve just been discussing with a world class forestry professor, in a few short decades they’re releasing it again just as fast. Except in a few exceptional and carefully managed circumstances, after a century these ‘carbon capture’ forests are simply a neutral part of the cycle, playing no long term role at all. Worse, they give us a false sense of ‘doing something’.
It’s also only fair to point out that the UN report was compiled by over 100 experts from over 50 countries, who all travelled to Geneva to chat about it. In reality most of them flew, as did the vast entourage, because as we’ve noted, such gatherings attract an extensive following of advisors, assistants, NGO reps, and lobbyists. It’s another colossal beano, and as much part of the problem as anything else.
Then, while the nation’s attention was focussed on whether some damned dam in Derbyshire was going to breach, and the RAF obligingly spent some days with a chinook helicopter dropping dumpy bags in the hole, another flood incident was going largely unnoticed a little further North. In Yorkshires picturesque dales, a severe flash flood had rushed down through several valleys – including the iconic Swale, from which some folk insist a sheep must have drunk to be called a Swaledale. The damage to farms and properties was severe, albeit localised and largely limited to a very rural area. Several farms lost great lengths of stone walls, suffered mounds of debris deposited on their precious pasture just as the hill sheep are being gathered for sales. Whole stacks of winter fodder were ruined. One farmer lost 140 sheep. It didn’t hit very many, but for several of those, it was devastating. Immediately groups of volunteers were turning out to help from farming communities across the North, and the charitable fodder bank service was looking to see how it could ease the pending winter feed problems. Emergency grazing was being located by sympathetic colleagues.
Now enter the discussion that nice chap Ben Goldsmith. He, as you’ll recall, is a
‘non-executive board member’ of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, appointed by Michael Gove. His qualifications seem to be that he inherited a fortune, thinks he knows a bit about the environment, and most significantly gives lots of money to the Tory party. He is another muppet who is fixated on the uplands being abused by those wicked hill farmers, while curiously overlooking population growth, airport expansion, uncontrolled consumerism, and the steady concreting of the lowlands. It would appear that following these floods, he went on the social media and using intolerant language, blamed these wicked hill farmers and their overgrazing….in other words, those hit by the floods have only themselves to blame.
Look. I’m sorry he’s lately been touched family tragedy, but that doesn’t excuse a moronic ignorance –most of the catchments of these Dales have long been in DEFRA agreements controlling stock numbers-, or such a callous disregard for peoples livelihoods. What a hateful attitude.
First was the release of a UN report on climate change and land use. It ranges far and wide, and covers an array of how humanity is treating its home, and source of sustenance. But the headlines in the UK focussed on only one thing…. We should-apparently- eat a plant based diet to save the world. This, obviously enough, is going to pique my ire a bit, given that I’m producing red meat from untilled wildlife rich carbon sequestering moorland. I can raise livestock on these moors, but I can’t grow lentils. And finding the balance between the interests of close on 70 million people in the UK, and the best way to use my land, I don’t think I’m very far off the mark. Yet the urban based main stream media just trot out blanket statements to suit what seems to be a vegan fixated culture. I’m doing what I carefully consider to be best, they carelessly spit in my eye. How do you think that makes me feel?
I notice one TV news show dragged that unpleasant ‘rewilding’ creep from under his hessian rug. He’s fixated on removing my livestock and me from the hills, and letting it turn back into some mythical forest, positive that it will capture all the carbon released from burning 400 million years’ worth of fossil fuels. Sadly, my industry representative –who is a genuine and decent chap- wasn’t slick enough to counter the half-bakedwhimsical nonsense. The eco-bigot has his pitch off pat, making a living from peddling his fantasies.
And in case you don’t understand, it’s true that trees grab carbon as they grow, but as I’ve just been discussing with a world class forestry professor, in a few short decades they’re releasing it again just as fast. Except in a few exceptional and carefully managed circumstances, after a century these ‘carbon capture’ forests are simply a neutral part of the cycle, playing no long term role at all. Worse, they give us a false sense of ‘doing something’.
It’s also only fair to point out that the UN report was compiled by over 100 experts from over 50 countries, who all travelled to Geneva to chat about it. In reality most of them flew, as did the vast entourage, because as we’ve noted, such gatherings attract an extensive following of advisors, assistants, NGO reps, and lobbyists. It’s another colossal beano, and as much part of the problem as anything else.
Then, while the nation’s attention was focussed on whether some damned dam in Derbyshire was going to breach, and the RAF obligingly spent some days with a chinook helicopter dropping dumpy bags in the hole, another flood incident was going largely unnoticed a little further North. In Yorkshires picturesque dales, a severe flash flood had rushed down through several valleys – including the iconic Swale, from which some folk insist a sheep must have drunk to be called a Swaledale. The damage to farms and properties was severe, albeit localised and largely limited to a very rural area. Several farms lost great lengths of stone walls, suffered mounds of debris deposited on their precious pasture just as the hill sheep are being gathered for sales. Whole stacks of winter fodder were ruined. One farmer lost 140 sheep. It didn’t hit very many, but for several of those, it was devastating. Immediately groups of volunteers were turning out to help from farming communities across the North, and the charitable fodder bank service was looking to see how it could ease the pending winter feed problems. Emergency grazing was being located by sympathetic colleagues.
Now enter the discussion that nice chap Ben Goldsmith. He, as you’ll recall, is a
‘non-executive board member’ of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, appointed by Michael Gove. His qualifications seem to be that he inherited a fortune, thinks he knows a bit about the environment, and most significantly gives lots of money to the Tory party. He is another muppet who is fixated on the uplands being abused by those wicked hill farmers, while curiously overlooking population growth, airport expansion, uncontrolled consumerism, and the steady concreting of the lowlands. It would appear that following these floods, he went on the social media and using intolerant language, blamed these wicked hill farmers and their overgrazing….in other words, those hit by the floods have only themselves to blame.
Look. I’m sorry he’s lately been touched family tragedy, but that doesn’t excuse a moronic ignorance –most of the catchments of these Dales have long been in DEFRA agreements controlling stock numbers-, or such a callous disregard for peoples livelihoods. What a hateful attitude.
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