In response to Art's previous message, both, I suppose. More on the subject below... Jon Begin
forwarded message: From: Jon Clements <jmcext...@gmail.com> Subject: Fwd: Climate: Europe
struggles to balance climate and farming Date: Feb 6, 2024 at 3:28 PM To: mrlibe...@me.com
---------- Forwarded message --------- From: The New York Times < nytdir...@nytimes.com >
Date: Tue, Feb 6, 2024 at 3:16 PM Subject: Climate: Europe struggles to balance climate and
farming To: < jmc...@umass.edu > Dozens of protests forced the E.U. to back down. All
Newsletters Read online For subscribers February 6, 2024 SUPPORTED BY LIFESTRAW Farmers blocking
a highway near Mollerussa, Spain, on Tuesday. Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press Europe struggles
to balance climate and farming By Manuela Andreoni Senior Newsletter Writer, Climate European
farmers are angry, and much of their ire is directed at ambitious environmental policies that are
part of the European Union’s Green Deal. Since the beginning of this year, thousands of farmers
have protested in dozens of cities across Europe , putting intense pressure on politicians ahead
of elections for the European Parliament later this year. Most farmers are not denying the need
to address climate change and biodiversity loss. They are seeking help to cope with higher
temperatures and increasingly frequent extreme weather events that have wreaked havoc on olive
trees , grape vines and other crops. But many are also angry about plans to cut subsidies on
diesel, implement requirements to restore native ecosystems and block some pesticide use. Farmers
are also upset with trade policies that force them to compete with farmers in Ukraine and South
America. Bending to farmers’ demands, the European Commission today scrapped its ambitious bill
to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and softened its recommendations on cutting agricultural
pollution. “We want to make sure that in this process, the farmers remain in the driving seat,”
said Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union’s top official. “Only if our farmers can live off
the land will they invest in the future. And only if we achieve our climate and environmental
goals together will farmers be able to continue to make a living.” According to my colleagues
Somini Sengupta and Monika Pronczuk , the protests are a harbinger of a bigger challenge: How to
grow food without further wrecking Earth’s climate and biodiversity. Treating symptoms, not
causes Like agriculture workers across the world, European farmers are burdened by inflation and
debt. Many also believe that they have too little control over the prices of their own products,
which are influenced by what the big companies that sell or process the products are willing to
pay. It’s often easier to roll back or delay what seem like burdensome environmental policies
than to transform the power dynamics of the current food system, according to Sophia Murphy, the
executive director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a Minnesota-based research
and advocacy nonprofit. And remaking the global food system for an era of higher temperatures and
net-zero emissions is a daunting problem. “There is a big challenge in how to address those
grievances and design a food production system that will feed people and at the same time not be
detrimental to the environment,” my colleague Monika, who covers the E.U., told me. “What the
farmers I have spoken to have told me is that the burden and the cost of fighting climate change
should be shared more evenly,” she added. The far-right threat Europe’s path forward on climate
change is hanging by a delicate political thread. If policymakers pushed too far on initiatives
to protect biodiversity and combat climate change, especially without involving farmers in the
decision-making process, it could empower far-right populists who want to reverse such policies.
In France, Germany and the Netherlands , the discontent among farmers is already fueling
far-right movements. Though farmers’ unions in France have varied political views, the far right
is eager to capitalize on the recent protests, according to Aurelien Breeden, a Times reporter
who covers France. “The protests play into this idea of a more rural, forgotten France where
people feel ignored by bureaucratic elites,” he told me. “That’s a classic far-right populist
talking point.” Continue reading the main story A MESSAGE FROM LIFESTRAW It’s Time for a Better
Water Filter Meet LifeStraw Home, the sleek kitchen upgrade you’ll wish you’d made years ago.
It's the only water filter that removes microplastics, bacteria, lead, PFAS, and 30+
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a give-back program that provides millions of children with safe water. Say goodbye to your grimy
old water filter. It’s time for an upgrade. Learn More The Caribbean, seen from the International
Space Station. Sponges collected deep below the surface carry chemical imprints that reflect
historical water temperatures. NASA A dire warning from spongy sea creatures Humans may have
warmed the planet by even more than initially thought, scientists learned from an unusual source:
six sea sponges that have been living in the Caribbean for centuries. Networks of satellites and
sensors have measured the rising temperatures in recent decades with great precision. But
scientists typically combined this data with 19th-century thermometer readings that were often
spotty and inexact. That’s where the sponges come in. The heroes of a new study published this
week are a long-lived type of sponge called sclerosponges. They are small and round, about the
size of a grapefruit. They dwell in deep, dimly lit undersea nooks and niches. And they grow
extremely slowly in a process that leaves chemical fingerprints of the temperature of the waters
that wash around them. By examining the chemical composition of their skeletons, which the
creatures built up steadily over centuries, the study’s authors have pieced together a new
history of those earliest decades of warming. It points to a startling conclusion: Humans have
raised global temperatures by a total of about 1.7 degrees Celsius, or 3.1 degrees Fahrenheit,
not 1.2 degrees Celsius, which is the most commonly used value. The research adds to other
evidence suggesting that societies started warming the planet earlier than 19th-century
temperature records indicate. But the study’s implications aren’t straightforward, said Joeri
Rogelj, a climate scientist at Imperial College London who wasn’t involved in the research.
Global targets to curb warming focus on how much worse the effects of global warming will get
compared with conditions between 1986 and 2005, Rogelj said. Revised temperature estimates for
the 19th century wouldn’t necessarily change our understanding of whether key guardrails had been
breached. — Raymond Zhong Read the full article here. OTHER CLIMATE NEWS Jenna Schoenefeld for
The New York Times The Fingerprints on Chile’s Fires and California Floods: El Niño and Warming
Two disasters, far apart, show how a dangerous climate cocktail can devastate places known for
mild weather. By Somini Sengupta The New York Times See Where Heavy Rainfall Deluged California
Heavy rainfall pounded Southern California and much of the state on Monday, flooding roads and
causing dangerous landslides. By Leanne Abraham, Zach Levitt and Elena Shao The New York Times
How the U.S. Became the World’s Biggest Gas Supplier The stunning rise of U.S. liquefied natural
gas exports in the last decade has reshaped global markets and triggered pushback from
environmentalists. By Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich Hasan Jamali/Associated Press Two Climate
Advisers Quit U.S. Export-Import Bank Over Fossil Fuel Plans The bank is set to vote Thursday on
financing an oil project in Bahrain, the latest in a string of overseas fossil fuel projects. By
Lisa Friedman and Hiroko Tabuchi Rory Doyle for The New York Times Anxiety, Mood Swings and
Sleepless Nights: Life Near a Bitcoin Mine Pushed by an advocacy group, Arkansas became the first
state to shield noisy cryptocurrency operators from unhappy neighbors. A furious backlash has
some lawmakers considering a statewide ban. By Gabriel J.X. Dance Tom Brenner/Reuters Bank of
America Pledged to Stop Financing Coal. Now It’s Backtracking. The changes come as Republican
lawmakers step up efforts to punish businesses that consider climate change and the environment
in their operations. By Hiroko Tabuchi Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images The Changing Focus of Climate
Denial: From Science to Scientists The scientist Michael Mann is challenging attacks on his work
in a defamation suit that’s taken 12 years to come to trial. By Delger Erdenesanaa Correction:
Last week’s newsletter identified $21.7 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act available to
coastal cities. That figure also includes funds available in the Infrastructure Investment and
Jobs Act. Thanks for being a subscriber. Read past editions of the newsletter here . If you’re
enjoying what you’re reading, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up here .
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York, NY 10018 -- JMCEXTMAN (aka Jon Clements) Extension Tree Fruit Specialist UMass Cold Spring
Orchard 393 Sabin Street Belchertown, MA 01007 413.478.7219 http://umassfruit.com
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