Even though Earth Day was officially this past week, keeping in mind that every day is Earth Day, of course, here's another environmental-themed SNLC that virtually none will read and will add pointlessly to the carbon footprint of DK and the Internet (yes, folks, teh internet does have a carbon footprint). But the twist here is that it involves a TV personality that is probably not familiar to most here, unless you live in the UK. The TV personality in question is Kate Humble, from the BBC 2 program(me) Springwatch. KH was recently featured in this profile from The Guardian, where she takes on at least one sacred cow that no one can talk about, at least not here in 'Amurrika'. More below the flip.....
First, not that you cared, the diary title comes from Kate Humble's Humble by Nature page, where she explains the origin of her "business", besides the obvious pun on her name:
"Humble by Nature’s home is a working farm just outside Monmouth in the Wye Valley in South Wales. For at least four generations it was owned by the local council and tenanted to young farming families who had no farm of their own. In 2010, when the last tenant retired and handed in his notice, the council decided to sell the farm, broken up into lots.
Kate Humble and husband Ludo Graham were looking for more land for their smallholding animals when they heard about the farm being sold. They felt it was too important an asset to the area, to farming and to the community to allow it to be sold in that way. They persuaded the council to allow them to take it on, keep it tenanted and run a business that in turn would support other rural businesses. The farm is now home to Tim and Sarah Stephens, who breed Welsh Mountain sheep and Hereford cattle.
When Kate and Ludo bought the farm their aim was to bring it back to life and create a business that would showcase rural skills, cookery and learning."
The
Guardian article noted another motivation for Humble and Graham to try to take over this farm space:
"Do we want everything to be imported, to deny our farming heritage, to get rid of every opportunity for young farmers? It's nigh on impossible to get into farming now, if you even wanted to."
Beyond trying to push agriculture at home, on a local level, Humble has this somewhat provocative statement on food and why people waste so much of it:
"Everyone's going to hate me and call me a middle-class [b---h] but I'm past caring because I'm so incensed. Food waste is endemic but we don't value food because it's not expensive enough. Four pints of milk for a quid, are you kidding me? And the reason we can buy that without thinking of the implications is because we're so disconnected from the land and farming process. People will see TV footage, like last year, of lambs being buried in the snow but then they'll complain about paying more for lamb. Here, we want to make that connection again."
BTW, concering TV footage of lambs, and the allusion to the programme
Lambing Live, you can read
this link from the BBC Media Centre. But the most provocative statement, in terms of environmentalism and human impact, is this one:
'"I think one of the most environmentally friendly things you can do is NOT have children. Yes, I know we have an ageing population but I've got a great plan for my old age, which is a return to communal student living. The idea that people have to have children before they wake up to the idea that the world might not be a great place in 15-20 years' time is nonsense. I'm not particularly clever, nor brilliant nor insightful but I don't need to have kids to tell me that. I've got godchildren. I don't know why: I'm woefully unqualified on both parts of that equation - can't be a mother, don't believe in God. But you know, I want them to have a world that's functional and great to live in."'
The subtext, of course, is overpopulation of the planet, and the resulting strains on the earth's resources. But of course, it's econo-political suicide to bring up the subject in public policy discourse. Needless to say, the political side most in denial about environmental stress and overpopulation is the right, who have kids without compunction as though there's no tomorrow, which feeds back (poor choice of words) on the situation and makes the problem worse. (Being a loser who can't get a date, never mind a mate, I suppose my contribution to 'solving the problem' is that I'll never father children. So it goes.) The overpopulation situation also reflects on the problems with people having tremendous trouble finding work, and technology advancing so much as to make more and more human labor obsolete. But that's a topic well beyond 3CM's understanding (typical loser, he), and a matter for totally separate discussion.
BTW, if you want to check out Lambing Live or Springwatch, some samples, c/o YT:
Lambing Live:
Springwatch:
BTW, FWIW, the official local Earth Day festival in Forest Park is tomorrow. With that, time for the usual SNLC protocol, namely your loser stories of the week.....