Save The World from Cow Farts!

In The Netherlands, A Farmers Party Taps Into Widespread Discontent With Government

Dutch Farmers Party Gains Popularity Ahead Of November Elections

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/21/1199431374/netherlands-farmer-citizen-movement-bbb-dutch-elections

“It’s probably arising from a deeper-felt feeling that society is changing too fast, and not in a direction that people appreciate — and, also these new measures that probably have to be implemented to protect the environment are also being enforced upon us for no good reasons by outside forces.”

— Professor Dr. Wouter van der Brug, PhD, Political Scientist, University of Amsterdam

Wouter van der Brug is Professor of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. His research interests focus on comparative research in collective political behavior, in particular electoral behavior, right-wing populism and political parties. He published monographs, edited volumes and more than 80 scientific articles in various international journals, such as the European Journal of Political Research, the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, West European Politics, etc.

“People in Holland have the feeling that the government’s needs are more important than the needs of the citizens. A lot of people are worried about their future. They’re worried about, ‘can my children buy a house in the coming years?’ They’re worried about all the costs that are soaring, the costs of food and gas. People can’t pay their bills anymore because everything is getting so expensive and they find in us a party that they trust.”

— Caroline van der Plas, Member of Parliament, Founder of the Farmer-Citizen Movement party, in Dutch, the BoerBurgerBeweging, and acronym, BBB

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Dutch farmer Wilbert van der Post is worried that the Dutch government’s new nitrogen reduction rules will force him, a fourth-generation farmer, out of business. He plans to vote for the Farmer-Citizens Movement, known in the Netherlands by its acronym, BBB, on election day in November. – Rob Schmitz/NPR

The Netherlands is one of the world’s Top 5 greatest food exporting nations (several reliably authoritative sources place it 2nd in value and volume), and for a country with over 17 million inhabitants (over 10 million more than Maryland), and about the same square area of Maryland (which is 16,000²miles+/-),  that’s a significant accomplishment. The United States, of course, leads the world in food exports, far and away eclipsing the Netherlands value and volume, by at least 3.5 times. Comparatively, New York State, with 19.6 million, and Pennsylvania with 12.9 million residents, are the 2 states whose populations are nearest the Netherlands.

The Netherlands government states that “the Dutch agricultural sector exports some € 65 billion of agricultural produce annually,” which comprises 17.5% of all Dutch exports, and fully 10% of the Dutch economy’s GDP and employment is derived from its horticultural and agricultural sector, while 25% of its exports are shipped to Germany, its greatest trade partner.

Since the 1600s the Dutch have long been known for their trading and shipping prowess, and in 2017, estimates were that the agricultural sector of the nation’s economy comprised about 1.6% of GDP, while services and industry comprised 70.2% and 17.9%, respectively. Last year (2022), Dutch food exports increased 9.4%, which was valued at over €100 billion. The year prior (2021), Germany imported the most Dutch food, valued at €26.3 billion, followed by Belgium €12.1 billion, France €8.6 billion, and the UK with €8.6 billion.

The Dutch share the Germans’ appreciation of efficiency, and increased efficiencies in agriculture have contributed significantly to increased production and profitability, with reliance upon greenhouses — one company has 24,000 acres under canopy (an area roughly 2x the size of Manhattan) — to supply enough vegetables to feed the nation, and to export, much of which is bound for Western European nations. In fact, on average, Dutch farms typically use only ½ gallon of water to grow around a pound of tomatoes, while the global average is over 28 gallons. The greenhouses use less fertilizer and significantly less water than traditional outdoor farming in soil, and can grow in an area of 1 acre what would take at least 10 acres of traditional farming to produce.

Wageningen Economic Research and Statistics Netherlands, on behalf of the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, found that in 2021,

Why is that?

Economic Infrastructure Strained By Severe Weather And Climate Change

Updated Saturday, 31 October 2020

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Increasingly, there’s a political tie-in to almost every news story published these days. And frankly, I’d much rather write about other, more benign, or even pleasant topics. But, these matters affect us all, and our very lives and livelihoods are at stake. So, because these are pressing matters, I give heed to them, as I hope you do also.

Recently, NPR News published a story while our nation was in the throes of the “Polar Vortex,” which is the name now given to a severe “cold snap” which plunged much of the Midwest and East into literally Arctic temperatures. In fact, as we we’re told by numerous meteorologists and other weather / climate scientists and researchers, the Arctic was actually warmer than many places affected, most notably including Chicago, the Twin Cities (Minneapolis–Saint Paul), Iowa, Pennsylvania, and other states up through the area, with some locales suffering from temperatures which dipped down into the -23ºF range, or lower. Many Low Temperature records were surpassed, and when combined with Wind Chill Factors, temperatures feel like at least double that (-40ºF), and more.

A Minnesotan is extremely bundled up protecting every square inch of exposed skin while awaiting public transportation outdoors during extremely dangerous cold conditions which occurred during the 2019 Polar Vortex.

By all estimates, it was one of the most severe such events in recorded history, and was also the cause of numerous deaths of people of all ages and sexes (21 at last count, not all who were homeless), due of course, to cold temperature extremes. Homeless shelters throughout the affected areas were literally accepting anyone and everyone, and numerous other organizations and agencies created emergency shelters for others to avoid the deadly conditions. Area residents were severely warned to avoid going outdoors at all costs, simply because inadequate dressing, or any exposed skin would certainly suffer frostbite, or worse.

But there was another, largely overlooked problem which was only given cursory attention. And that was the effects and strains the severe climatic conditions placed upon infrastructure, which is often called economic infrastructure.

Essentially, infrastructure describes a nation’s internal facilities that enable business activity, which are fundamental requirements for economic development, which is vital to improvements in a country’s standard of living, and consists of facilities, activities and services that assist to increase overall economic productivity at a national level.

Infrastructure has two broad component parts: 1.) Social Infrastructure, consisting of basic services such as education, training, including health, sanitation, potable water supply, housing, sewerage, etc., while; 2.) Physical Infrastructure directly supports economic production, and consists primarily of supporting the production and distribution of products and services including agriculture, industry, and trade, supports, and directly increases productivity.

An example of Physical Infrastructure would be the production of hydroelectric dams by the Tennessee Valley Authority, creation of electrical power, communication, and natural gas delivery grids, roads, waterways, airports and railways for transportation, and potable water and waste treatment plants and their related delivery mechanisms and systems.

All those components must not only be created and developed, but they must be continually maintained, and improved as necessary, to continue to provide services vital to the economy. And it is maintenance which proves frequently to be the

Radical Right Wing Extremist Girl-Holding-A-Microphone Pretends To Interview Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Recently, I had the opportunity to view a YouTube video which, as I considered the title, immediately aroused suspicion.

You too, can view the video, which is linked herein at the close.

The title is “Kennedy Jr. Loses Cool at Climate Rally; Gets Handsy w/ PJTV’s Michelle Fields When She Corners Him.”

Think about it for a brief moment. You’re cornered. What’re you gonna’ do?

Yeah.

So anyway, points deducted for that.

Who is this “PJTV,” anyway?

Here’s what they say about themselves: “PJTV is the first center-right online news and commentary television network, focusing on the key political and economic issues of the day.“

Okay… great. Right wingers. So what?

Well, I’m no fan of the radical right, so points deducted for that.

‘What?!,’ you exclaim?! ‘You don’t like the right?’

Not quite. It’s the RADICAL RIGHT which I oppose. Note the presence of the word RADICAL which precedes the word “right.”

But let’s talk about the video.

The Girl Holding A Microphone (whom identifies herself as “Michelle Fields”) claims to be at the

Could Climate Change help the Global Economy?

Raise a Glass of Scottish Wine to Global Climate Changes

By Rudy Ruitenberg Mar 25, 2014 11:00 PM CT

Thanks to climate change, Christopher Trotter will make history later this year by pairing a Scottish white wine with the local spoots.

The razor clams harvested from the nearby shores of the North Sea will go down nicely with the first bottles from Trotter’s vineyard north of Edinburgh. The 2014 vintage will be special for Scotland, where Highlanders have distilled whisky and brewed ale for centuries.

“Scotland has probably been more of a beer-drinking nation than anything else,” said Trotter, a chef and food writer. Wine hasn’t been part of the culture, he said, “until now.”

Christopher Trotter, Scottish Chef, Vintner and food writer, stands in his vineyard in Fife, Scotland
– Source: Christopher Trotter via Bloomberg

Trotter might as well pour a splash on the ground in memory of a vanishing world. Climate change, which scientists say is caused by heat-trapping gas accumulating in the atmosphere, is transforming dinner tables and scrambling traditions in the $270 billion global wine industry. In Europe, warmer seasons are chasing Italian and Spanish vintners up hillsides, making a winner of Germany, encouraging growers in Poland and spreading the cultivation of wine grapes to latitudes friendlier to belly-warming whiskies and ales. And it’s raising the alcohol content, and altering the flavors, of famous wines in France.

Vitis vinifera, the common grape vine, is a finicky crop. Vineyards flourish where average annual temperatures range from 10 to 20 degrees Celsius (50 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit). Too much dry weather, hail or too much rain can downgrade or wreck a vintage.

“Scotland has probably been more of a beer-drinking nation than anything else,” said Trotter, a chef and food writer. Wine hasn’t been part of the culture, he said, “until now.”

Trotter might as well pour a splash on the ground in memory of a vanishing world. Climate change, which scientists say is caused by heat-trapping gas accumulating in the atmosphere, is transforming dinner tables and scrambling traditions in the $270 billion global wine industry. In Europe, warmer seasons are chasing Italian and Spanish vintners up hillsides, making a winner of Germany, encouraging growers in Poland and spreading the cultivation of wine grapes to latitudes friendlier to belly-warming whiskies and ales. And it’s raising the alcohol content, and altering the flavors, of famous wines in France.

Vitis vinifera, the common grape vine, is a finicky crop. Vineyards flourish where average annual temperatures range from 10 to 20 degrees Celsius (50 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit). Too much dry weather, hail or too much rain can downgrade or wreck a vintage.

Fine Wine

“Wine is very responsive to climatic factors,” said Karl Storchmann, a professor of economics at New York University and managing editor of the Journal of Wine Economics. “This is especially true for fine wine, when weather-induced vintage-to-vintage price variations can exceed 1,000 percent.”

Over centuries, growers in the top producing countries — France, Italy and Spain — selected grape varieties that now account for 75 percent of the world’s wine plantings, according to a database prepared by the University of Adelaide in Australia.

God is punishing Oklahoma with tornadoes.

Recently, Moore, OK was devastated by a mile-wide twister.
Serves ’em right.
God hates fags.
Our government should do nothing.
Everybody knows, this is an act of God.
God is punishing Oklahoma for their wickedness.
This is purely a religious matter, and government should get out of the way.
This has NOTHING to do with climate change.
Insurance companies should cancel & deny coverage.
They have that right.
Tough luck.
Suck it up.
Oh… wait.
It was.

The reader should understand, this is PURE SARCASM.

What is sarcasm?

Simply put, sarcasm is

Climate change benefits English wine growers now producing high quality sparkling wine

British winemakers credit climate change for boom in bubbly sales

By Anthony Faiola, Published: April 28, 2013

CUCKMERE VALLEY, England — Blessed with soil similar to France’s Champagne region, vineyards in England nevertheless produced decades of low-grade goop that caused nary a Frenchman to tremble. But a Great British fizz boom is underway, with winemakers crediting climate change for the warmer weather that has seemed to improve their bubbly.

Sparkling wine undergoes an early fermentation process at the Ridgeview Wine Estate in East Sussex, England. Warmer summers are producing wines competitive with some from France.
– GRAHAM BARCLAY/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Increasingly hospitable temperatures have helped transplanted champagne grapes such as chardonnay and pinot noir thrive in the microclimates of southern England, touching off a wine rush by investors banking on climate change. Once considered an oxymoron, fine English sparkling wine is now retailing for champagne prices of $45 to $70 a pop. In recent years, dozens of vineyards have

Draught Raises Corn Price, Milk Profits fall, Cows get Slaughtered

Regardless whether global climate change is man-made, or cyclical… it’s going to affect us all, and we would be wise to DO SOMETHING to PRESERVE, PROTECT and DEFEND ourselves NOW!

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Milk-Cow Drought Culling Accelerates as Prices Jump: Commodities

U.S. milk production is headed for the biggest contraction in 12 years as a drought-fueled surge in feed costs drives more cows to slaughter.

Output will drop 0.5 percent to 198.9 billion pounds (90.2 million metric tons) in 2013 as the herd shrinks to an eight- year low, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. Milk futures rose 45 percent since mid-April and may advance at least another 19 percent to a record $25 per 100 pounds by June, said Shawn Hackett. The president of Boynton Beach, Florida-based Hackett Financial Advisers Inc. correctly predicted the rally in March.

Dairies in California, the top milk-producing state, are filing for bankruptcy, and U.S. cows are being slaughtered at the fastest rate in more than a quarter century. Corn surged to a record in August as the USDA forecast the smallest crop in six years because of drought across the U.S. Global dairy prices tracked by the United Nations rose 6.9 percent last month, the most among the five food groups monitored, and that will probably mean record costs next year, Rabobank estimates.

“Farmers can’t afford to buy as much grain and protein, and that affects milk production,” said Bob Cropp, an economist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison who has been following the industry since 1966. “In California, there’ve been some foreclosures and some sell-off of cows quite heavily. You’re going to see that in other parts of the country.”

Mercantile Exchange

Class III milk, used to make cheese, jumped 22 percent to $21.05 on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange this year. That’s more than 21 of the 24 commodities in the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index, which rose 1.8 percent. The MSCI All-Country World Index (MXWD) of equities climbed 12 percent, and Treasuries

Thoughts on Global Warming

Science, it is often claimed, takes a skeptical perspective on many issues. The accepted scientific “gold standard” in medical science is the double-blind placebo-controlled study. However, in other scientific endeavors, the ability to replicate the experiment and the achieve the same findings or results is the standard. That is to say, is the experiment able to be duplicated exactly by others, whom will also obtain similar results?

Toward that end, in science, the ability of researchers to duplicate their colleagues’ work is paramount to validation.

As the scientific process relates to the issue of Global Warming, there are numerous valid scientific questions about it. For example, if we acknowledge, and give the benefit of the doubt to those whom say that the warming trend the Earth is now experiencing is part of a cycle, what we do not know is how long such cycles have lasted, or will last.

There is little question that