

11 December 2019
How to over-heat a planet
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Earth
Take a landscape of small, sustainable farms, thriving village communities and diverse wildlife populations.
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Fell the trees and woodlands
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Rip out the hedges
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Sow the empty, prairie-like landscape with annual crops like cereals and oilseeds
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Plaster them with chemical fertilisers and pesticides
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Take grazing animals and poultry out of the fields and confine them to sheds
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Drive tens of thousands of skilled workers and farmers from the land
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Use taxpayers’ money to maintain a surplus of cheap commodity grains so you undermine the market for real, nutritious food
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Plant trees, shrubs and wild-flowers in a few field corners to give the impression of saving wildlife
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Watch soils eroding down rivers while their carbon compounds get oxidised to greenhouse gas




Congratulations. You’ve just read a summary of Britain’s post-World War Two farming policy. Now here’s how to cool the over-heated planet we’ve created
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Plant trees and hedges and create small fields
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Sow flower-filled, herby pastures and let the animals and poultry range over them
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Open up the countryside to environmentally-aware people to run the new-old system
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Watch the wildlife roaring back
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Watch soils grow deeper and wetter as they take carbon from the atmosphere and hold more moisture
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Enjoy real, nutrient-rich foods for the first time in ages
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Celebrate the new landscape of small, sustainable farms, thriving village communities and diverse wildlife populations
Note for rural policy-makers: You now know what to do.


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