Theirs is performative activism—a self-indulgent pastime to signal luxury beliefs. Pouring milk all over the floor at Harrods doesn’t save the planet, it just shows how little they care about the staff who have to clean it up.
Locals, forestry experts, farmers, and ecologists all agreed that the principal problem is bad forest management, which is best countered by a return of rural life and its traditional activities, particularly extensive cattle farming. But it’s easier said than done.
For the last seventy years, agricultural policy in Europe and elsewhere has been driving efficiency and increased production, much to the detriment of societal and environmental health. But not all the blame rests on the shoulders of the technocrats. They weren’t the ones who started the revolution that made Spanish farmer Artero cry.
The Ministry of Agriculture called the move from Brussels “a setback,” as it comes just when the war in Ukraine has created a global need for seeds and seed oils that farmers were ready to respond to.
On July 3rd, farmers convened en masse in their tractors and blocked the German-Dutch border. Others protested by dumping manure in front of several public buildings. Reuters reports that on July 4th, they also blocked roads and supermarket distribution centres.
The Po River, once feared for being prone to spring floods, may become the source of fresh horror as multiple crises in Italy play out due to the absence of water.
