Earth and Leaf
General Blog Posts on Earth and Leaf for Information
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Cows Milk in our Diet – the Future
The future of cows milk in our diet is up for discussion. It is the most consumed dairy product in the world by volume and in the UK is cheaper than bottled water. By an accident of genetics, Caucasian peoples are able to digest cows milk, but many are intolerant to some degree. In contrast Asian origin people are, post infancy, unable to digest cows milk.
Founder of Earth and Leaf – Iain Dunn
“My career is founded on milk. Early on this was through the family farm. We milked about 36 cows to a bucket in traditional cowsheds. These cows frequently lived to 12 or more years of age. Later I attended Agricultural College and then University where I studied Agricultural Sciences. I am still learning about milk thirty six years later. I have spent most of my working life in the dairy industry mostly with cows but also with goats.”
Cows Milk in our Diet
Cow’s milk is not a great food source for vast numbers of people on our planet. There are good genetic reasons. This article from the BBC explains why; Why (some) humans have evolved to drink milk. This makes the future of cow’s milk a more interesting topic. It is a good reason to look at goat’s milk as an alternative. Why we Farm Cows and not Goats . . .
How is the future of goats milk compared to the future of cow’s milk?
It is good and that is a blessing for our planet. There is no future for cows milk in our diet, but it is also worth pointing out that many of the alternatives are unsustainable too.
Why not Cows ?
Quite simply it is an incredibly inefficient way to farm.
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The Power of Genomics – Improve Farm Sustainability
We must grasp the power of genomics firmly to help agriculture, but not simply to raise yields. We need to be smarter than that.
Read more: The Power of Genomics – Improve Farm Sustainability
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Mushrooms are the Future in Our Diet and of our World
Mushrooms are the Future. I grew up with a farm that had fields full of Field Mushrooms and Puffballs every autumn. We also had Shaggy Inkcaps and a large number of others too. The Inkcaps grew in a straight line across a large field next to an ancient bridleway. I always wondered why. Now I know – there used to be a hedge there, an ancient hedge.
I have never worked on another farm since with a huge variety of fungi out in the fields. They were always near the edge of the wood or a hedge. Sometimes they would appear where a hedge used to be!
Mushrooms are the future of our world. When we destroy ancient forest, we destroy a vast network of
Mushrooms are the Future
The Vegan Food and Living publication is a useful reference.
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The Sahara was Once Green and it Can be Again with Your Help
The Sahara was Once Green
Did goats cause the desertification of the Sahara? We don’t think so, but it is possible.
What we do know is that the Sahara is growing. This is because of global warming and environmental pressures. If we can prevent that we must!
Goats and Cattle are the huge threat in Africa that will turn the Savannah into desert over time. There is strong evidence that the Sahara was smaller historically. We know it is expanding now, particularly with global warming.
https://www.popsci.com/sahara-desert-drought-humans/
You can also view this in our document library – https://earthandleaf.org/document/reforesting-senegals-deserts/
The Sahara was Once Green
I need to type lots more words to get my seo rank above 80. It is nearly there. Keyword density is 1.65, the focus keyword and combination appear 2 times. At least one external link with DoFollow was found in your content. There we go. Another great organisation is Ecosia, use their search engine to plant trees and rehabilitate ecosystems. They are doing amazing work in sub saharan Africa, along with the Rainforest Alliance.
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Green-washing at Drax Uncovered by Panorama
Last year Ofgem committed to investigating apparent Green-washing Drax:
Green-washing at Drax Here is a little of the detail from the BBC Panorama investigation, Green-washing at Drax. Once the program becomes available it will feature on here. Meanwhile global warming continues and so does green-washing.
In response to the latest findings by the BBC, Drax admitted it has taken wood from old-growth forests. But it told Panorama that 77% of the material for its Canadian wood pellets came from sawdust and sawmill residues, with the rest coming from forestry residues and low-grade logs.
A spokesman for the company says that it keeps its sourcing policy and practices under regular review so that they “take account of evolving forest dynamics, legislation, policy, and science”.
Drax says that it decided in October 2023 to stop sourcing wood from old-growth priority deferral areas, and that “work to implement this decision through the supply chain is ongoing”.
The company doesn’t dispute that it is still taking wood from old-growth sites that are not priority deferral areas.
The burning of wood from old-growth forests contradicts the company’s previous claims. In a 2017 report about sustainability, Drax stated it would not take wood from what it called “no-go areas”. It said: “We do not take from protected forests, old growth or primary forest, sites that have been classified as having a high biodiversity value.” Reference – Green-washing at Drax.
Drax has told BBC Panorama that the 2017 document is “now obsolete” and that its current policy and practices are “more sophisticated”.
This is environmental destruction for profit, not just Green-washing!
Old growth natural forest is being cut down in North America to supply Drax power station. Firstly this simply is very wrong. It is exactly the same as cutting down Amazon Rain-Forest. Secondly the rules that determine what counts as renewable energy are simply nonsense in this case. Wood is not a fossil fuel. But it is fuel that when cut down, transported, processed, transported again and then burned causes global warming. At each stage it is responsible for pumping CO2 into the atmosphere.
Fifty per cent of the stored carbon in a tree is underground. Why is that important? Because it is released into the atmosphere over time when a tree is cut down! The green-washing at Drax ignores this data.
Stop Green-washing at Drax and Join Earth and Leaf
Drax produces about 4% of the UK’s energy. We can shut Drax down by insulating our homes.
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Green-washing isn’t so Green after all
Radio 5 this morning, 7th February 2024 featured a discussion on flying and private jets. A listener messaged in to say “Ive planted over 1000 trees so I will fly as much as I like.” Oh dear!
My immediate response was; “Firstly this listener doesn’t understand global warming and climate change. Secondly, he feels entitled, although he plants trees which is good. Thirdly, has he planted the trees or simply used offsets or bought carbon credits.”
Now to the 1st of March, concerning Drax Power station in Yorkshire. The first thing to say about Drax is it is counted as a renewable energy plant because it burns wood chips. In other words it is not renewable energy. Most importantly he whole plant and its supply chain is mired in greenwashing.
Here is the recent article from the BBC:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68381160
First of all, cutting own ancient forest in North America to fuel British power stations is utter lunacy and environmental vandalism. Additionally cutting down forests in North America to fuel Drax is bonkers. The transport costs are phenomenal too, generating vast amounts of CO2.
Second, there is also an external cost. The forests grown for Drax cannot be used for other purposes. Consequently other trees must be cut down too, to provide timber for North America.
“Drax, receives money from energy bill payers because the electricity produced from burning pellets is classified as renewable and treated as emission-free”.
This is Green-washing! This emphatically is not renewable energy.
To learn more, Click Here!
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Sheep Farming Reform is Long Overdue
Sheep farming reform in Britain is overdue. We have unique system that produces about eight million lambs for slaughter each year. This system involves 18 million ewes when just 8 million should be enough. Why?
Tradition. We have what is known as a stratified sheep farming system. This is rooted in traditions of upland and moorland management. Progress in the new science of Genomics means we no longer need that system which would free millions of hectares of farmed land for other uses.
Sheep meat consumption is falling fast so we no longer need those eight million lambs. This is the ideal time for sheep farming reform in Britain. As our relationship with the EU develops exports are going to fall significantly. Some sixty percent of our lamb is exported. If we were to cease exports of lamb then we would only need about eight million ewes and that number will continue to fall in the next two decades.
Grouse shooting needs to end. Our uplands are burnt annually, drained and overgrazed by sheep purely to boost the population of native Grouse. This leads to flooding and disrupted river flow downstream and increases the difficulties caused by drought and flooding. Grouse shooting has other unpleasant side effects too – see what Raptor Persecution UK have to say about it.
Hill sheep are crossed to produce crossbred “mule” ewes which are sold or transferred to farms on lower ground to be crossed with a terminal sire. This is where the majority of lambs for meat are produced, male and female.
So we have a whole generation of hill sheep that are kept solely to produce reproductive sheep for lamb production. They generally have one lamb per ewe. The crossbred mules should average two lambs each. You don’t want more than two because a ewe has only two teats. With modern genomics this is a waste of time, land, labour and makes sheep farming very extensive. However with reform of the British sheep industry we MUST put in place just transition for the affected farmers and communities.
I have in the past been challenged with the argument that we have to use this sheep farming system because there is no other use for the uplands except sheep and beef farming along with Grouse shooting. They might add forestry. This is of course not the case.
The uplands are or should be a giant sponge absorbing rainfall and releasing it gently across the year feeding springs, rivers, reservoirs and regulating water flow that prevents flooding.
Historically this used the moors and hills for farming. Millions of hectares of land have been drained or gripped which increases water run off rates. This speeds up water flows from the hill to the sea. Along with dredging, straightening water courses and of course drainage systems lower down the hill destroy our rivers as habitat.
So how do we reform sheep farming?
We need to halve our lamb production and use genomics to make that lamb production efficient. This removes the need for “at scale” hill farming. If we take out some of the beef herds as well that gives us millions of hectares for conservation and recreation, adding the benefit of flood mitigation. This will enable us to increase the UK forest cover from 10% to 25%.
I propose we start sheep farming reform in our National Parks.
I conclude – there are many varied benefits to sheep farming reform in Britain.
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Time to Take Action on Nature Decline
It is time to take action on nature decline. A report today by the Office for Environmental Protection states; “If action is not taken England risks an irreversible spiral of decline in its nature”
Here’s the report from World at One:
Government remains largely off track to meet its environmental ambitions, finds OEP in annual progress report. It is time to take action on nature decline.
18.01.2024
Government remains largely off track to meets its environmental ambitions and must speed up and scale up its efforts in order to achieve them, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has found in its annual progress report.
The OEP report provides an assessment of government’s progress towards legally-binding environmental targets and the goals of its Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP). It covers the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. It also includes content on selected cross-cutting themes, such as nature-friendly farming, and a more in-depth assessment focused on government’s apex goal of achieving ‘thriving plants and wildlife’.
Dame Glenys Stacey, Chair of the OEP, said: “While some progress has been made, substantial challenges remain. Our assessment is that government is largely off track to meet its ambitions and its legal obligations.
It really is time to take action on nature decline and it is so very simple. I dug a pond on my allotment. Six months later I took this photograph of a female Southern Hawker dragonfly laying her eggs at that pond.
It really is time to take action on nature decline.
You can read some of our book here at www.shepherdsofthetrees.org
You can also learn about Shepherds of the Trees here
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Interesting Stuff Going on at Home
Wickham Fen
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67933864
Knepp Castle Estate is leading in re-wilding projects in the UK in West Sussex. Here’s a short film on their beaver reintroduction project:
Finally, there are also lots of interesting things going on around the world. Click Here!
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Denis in LLandudno, on the pier
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If you want to learn more about sustainable farming have a look at The Rainforest Alliance