Business as usual. Spring killed.

Having just written about Earth day we went for our morning walk as usual, only to find that one of our local farmers had done his bit to help by wiping out the nests of the only remaining plovers and a couple of pairs of skylarks.

we have been spoiled by their antics and beautiful singing over the last couple of months, so we will miss them. Instead there was a bare field covered in seagulls and crows and an otherwise eerie silence.

unfortunately these birds stand little chance now to successfully breed. if the tractors and machinery does not destroy the nests, then the crows and seagulls attracted by farming activity will.

Earth day 2020

As the last embers of Earth day 2020 flicker out here is a philosophical question.

Why do we squander countless billions in questing for life and knowledge out there in far outer space, when we have so little knowledge and appreciation for the life around us?

How can we possibly justify it when our own world burns, and we risk loosing so much of the abundance of life .. that should be here?

Timeless wisdoms

Do not fear lack. learn to trust that you will be provided for. Keep nothing other than what you need.

Spread the Joy!

A Happy Bee!

Amid all the doom and gloom (and there is a lot) , heres a simple picture and a simple message.

At this time in our history as a species it is becoming increasingly difficult to feel proud to be a human being. For we are part of the most destructively anti- life organism that has ever inflicted this planet.

How do we change this dynamic? How can we find the Hope that is necessary, in a world where so many people are giving up… a world where the joy is being sucked out of life.

there is only one anti-dote I can think of … and that is to spread the Joy… spread the Love…and give the natural world a helping hand , wherever you can.

Start spreading.

Lente in Drenthe

It should be a Joyful affair, spring. A time of new life and Hope and promise. It is for many their favourite season.

In Drenthe (and I should imagine in any other intensively farmed area in the world), it is a decidedly bitter sweet experience..

Thin linear villages (dorpjes) cut verdant green swathes through an intensively farmed countryside that resembles a desert, particularly in the period when local farmers begin actively to work their fields. In this period, increasingly you see what little grass fields remain, turning a bright orange.as vegetation is chemically killed.

The culprit I understand is round up. After spraying, the use of the field often changes, or if it remains grass it is a monoculture sort of rye grass, without any food value to native species. Any remaining hedges or native bushes are pulled out and later burnt on an easter or new year bomfire..

Often the wind blows strongly for days on end, and the landscape really changes into a modern Sahara with strong sandstorms whipped up, ripping off the impoverished topsoil (complete with a full load of chemicals) and dumping it who knows where. A complete hazard (which can have fatal consequences) to traffic.

A big part of this problem appears to come from the abnormal methods now used to produce our meat and dairy products. The modern farm tends to be nothing like how most people would picture it. It tends to resemble a small or large industrial complex.

This forms the intensive hub in which animals are farmed, often in the most abhorrent circumstances. . For the animals to survive, vast amounts of hectares are used to grow food stuffs for them , such as maize. Far from efficient it is extremely inneficient , when you take into account the energy and material costs needed to sustain this model of farming.

And that is not to take into account factors such as the huge amount of land that is wasted on non essential crops such as sugar beet, or for example tobacco , elsewhere in the world.

Our agricultural areas are rapidly becoming massive dead zones, with wildlife left to find its survival needs along bare road verges. Entire ecosystems are collapsing here in Holland, and as Holland is a vital link for many international migrations, this is a subject which should transcend borders. It is a European problem. and It is a World problem.

A dairy farmer here once told me he felt he had a moral duty to feed a starving world. I would question why he thinks dairy farming helps that and why a farmer based in Holland should feel it necessary to do that. in the first place.

What about providing adequetly for the needs of your local community, and taking seriously your role as a guardian of that bit of land that you work, and all the different forms of life it should be sustaining?

For a small country , Holland is a big player in the Agricultural industry.It has the second biggest export industry (after America) and i believe I once read it produces more meat per head of population than any other country. It has evolved its agriculrural Industry into a super effeicient super slick machine.

The powerful agricultural lobby here ensures that it is exporting its products, methods and technologies around the world. That these also happen to be anti life does not matter at all to this juggernaut of an industry.

I could go on in detail , but its too much for now. Suffice to say that taxpayer money is being used by individual countries and the EU in particular , to come up with misguided policies and subsidies that are proving to be anti- life.

Here I am not just talking about the natural world , but human life, which is also being threatened by agricultural policies that emphasise intensive, chemical bombed farming methods..

It seems that the risks to human populations in sorrounding areas, could be being conveniently ignored by our politicians and the industry itself. According to a Zembla documentary recently aired titled ”Bollengif in babyluiers”’ 1 in 5 dutch homes could be in danger from the effects of chemical poisons.being used in its agricultural industry

If people are not concerned enough by plummeting biodiversity levels, then perhaps that is a reason to think again..

Until then people living in agricultural communities will continue to be put and risk and every year spring will become noticeably more silent.

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An Ecological crisis

It warms my heart to see that around the world, people are protesting and doing their best to bring attention to this crisis, that while ongoing for decades, is starting to escalate out of control. What is not so optimistic is the response to the burgeoning crisis from our leaders around the world.

Frankly they either dont have a clue what to do, or they dont give a damn because they have their own agenda to follow. As a result we get the ostrich approach, or buisiness and expansion as usual approach.. They have missed the fact that the party really ended some time ago.

The situation is so serious that only massive coordinated international action can save the day. The sort of action that we as individuals and consumers are encouraged to partake in.

It is time for the EU to step in with a coordinated and massive response for Europe as a whole. It is time for them to prove that true quality of life for its citizens (not a quasi economic sense of wellbeing) , is vital to the continued prosperity of what is in reality an economic block.

The EU urgently needs to demonstrate an awareness of the vital necessity for a healthy living enviroment for all living organisms, for without respect for the life around us, our own lives will become increasingly impoverished.

For too long EU policies have been creating enormous problems for the enviroment we live in. Its agricultural policies (the basis of its existence), have caused massive erosion of natural assets and quality of life throughout Europe.

Its fishing policies have not protected our seas.

Initiatives direct from Brussels have led to massive destruction and biodiversty loss to forests around the world in a misplaced attempt to meet carbon dioxide reduction targets by burning trees instead of coal. Where on earth is the wisdom in ACTIVELY persuing a policy that is eradicating one of the best solutions to climate change?.

Throughout Europe our migrating birds are left unprotected to poaching and illegal or questionable hunting practices. The Eu does not seem to have a policy / initiative/ or the will to deal with this issue.

A lot of pain is being inflicted on Europes biodiversity,, and that of the world by ill thought out EU policies.. Its time for them to step up to the challenge of putting things right. Our true life quality depends on it.

The Joy of the crocus

As the crocus flowers fade away, I can reflect back on another year of joy they have provided. The first appeared on the 3rd of February, and due to the extreme warmth of February, they played host to a variety of bees and other pollinators.

The small investment in crocus bulbs is one of the best I have ever made. Every year they are a friendly early reminder of spring. every year there are more of them. Every year they help to sustain any early insects.

This Autumn, why not buy some bulbs, and plant a patch in your lawn. Just remember not to mow that patch until the crocus leaves have shriveled back into the bulbs, and you will be rewarded year after year with the same spectacle.

Silent Spring

Over years of walking my dogs through areas of intensively farmed land , I have witnessed the sad spectacle of returning ground nesting birds such as lapwings and curlews trying to nest.

It is almost always unsuccessful and it makes me feel so powerless watching these fearless birds trying to defend their nests against the oncoming tractors.

Normally around this time of year, there is a brief period of respite and hope in the period before the farmers come out of their winter sleep. The fields echo to the haunting calls of these birds. Every year there is less of them, but they try again nonetheless.

They find a nest place , they begin.

If its a cold winter , or too wet the farmers are later beginning. We get to enjoy this optimistic period a little longer, but it always ends the same way as a wave of tractors and killing machines of various sizes and shapes take to the fields like an invading army.

The birds ultimately, try as they may do not stand a chance. Bravely they fly around the tractors. No evasive action is ever taken. No account is taken of these wonderful birds who have migrated here to a place that used to be home.

I think we can all relate to the feeling of going back to a place that previously felt like home, only to find its changed.

Our farming practices have changed beyond recognition in the last 50 years. Our farmlands, our country landscapes… are increasingly becoming bleak industrial landscapes which have beed stripped of all life that is considered not useful.

Millions of years of Evolution simply cannot cope with the scale of changes being unleashed by us.. we spray it, cut it, squash it , do everything to it possible except for making allowance for it.

Gradually the killing fields fall silent. Some birds try again (almost always unsuccessfully). You see forlorn looking birds at the side of the road for a period.. then they too leave.

Every year there is less of them. Soon without urgent action , there will be none.

Plant a Tree

This is a good time of year to plant a bare root tree , so why not pick a species that is native to your area and good for wildlife and try?

We urgently need more trees. Around the world we are loosing them at a tremendous rate, and they are essential to the healthy functioning of our world.

During the Great heatwave of last year , I saw how even established trees and shrubs struggled for survival .If global warming trends continue, then the chances of survival for new trees will only become harder..

In view of the rapid changes we are beginning to see , I believe we now have a narrow window of opportunity to act .. with a massive tree planting action at the heart of that action..

Plant a tree. It brings with it so many benefits, not least being a cool shady spot to sit out the uncomfortable heatwaves that are becoming a more regular occurrence