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Home » Societies that destroy themselves: the war on agriculture

Societies that destroy themselves: the war on agriculture

The New Neo Posted on by

AGW-espousing environmental activists and the war on modern agriculture:

Liberals want organic farming–no intensive nitrogen fertilization–along with an end to animal husbandry and banning of pretty much all effective herbicides and pesticides. All great ideas, if you don’t care about billions of people dying. Just ask anyone in Sri Lanka or the Netherlands.

Chris Morrison writes:

“The full horror of the ‘nitrogen’ war on agriculture is becoming more apparent every day. Food supplies around the world face collapse if the use of nitrogen fertiliser is severely restricted under Net Zero requirements. It is claimed that the fertiliser is warming the Earth and causing the climate to break down, as the by-product nitrous oxide is released into the atmosphere. In fact the entire global food supply is in danger of being trashed for the sake of what recent scientific work notes is almost unmeasurable 0.064°C warming per century.”

It’s a self-induced destruction, engineered by supposed “elites” and opposed by the rest, for the most part. When societies purposely harm themselves in obvious ways, it’s often under some idea or theory that dictates it necessary to achieve some greater ideal. Communism told people it was necessary to break a lot of eggs to make a tasty Communist omelette, and AGW alarmists feel they are tasked with saving the world.

Which for some reason reminds me of this:

In April 1856, 15-year-old Nongqawuse and her friend Nombanda, who was between the ages of 8 and 10, went to scare birds from her uncle’s crops in the fields by the sea at the mouth of the Gxarha River in the present day Wild Coast region of South Africa. When she returned, Nongqawuse told Mhlakaza that she had met the spirits of two of her ancestors. She claimed that the spirits had told her that the Xhosa people should destroy their crops and kill their cattle, the source of their wealth as well as food. Nongqawuse claimed that the ancestors who had appeared to them said:

The dead would arise.
All living cattle would have to be slaughtered, having been reared by contaminated hands.
Cultivation would cease.
New grain would have to be dug.
New houses would have to be built.
New cattle enclosures would have to be erected.
New milk sacks would have to be made.
Doors would have to be weaved with buka roots.
People must abandon witchcraft, incest, and adultery.
In return, the spirits would sweep all European settlers into the sea. The Xhosa people would be able to replenish the granaries and fill the kraals with more beautiful and healthier cattle…

In the aftermath of the crisis, the population of British Kaffraria dropped from 105,000 to fewer than 27,000 due to the resulting famine.

There actually was a cattle disease going around at the time, but it was killing far fewer cattle than ended up being slaughtered once belief in this vision spread.

You can read more about it here.

Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

Comments

Societies that destroy themselves: the war on agriculture — 36 Comments

  1. The war on Dutch farmers (in a country of great importance for the export of foodstuffs) has been covered extensively by the wonderful (both brilliant and charismatic) Eva Vlaardingerbroek (only 26!), who is their great champion against her own corrupt government. One of the many reasons to lament the disappearance of Tucker from the stupidly-managed FoxNews is that she appeared quite often on his program to discuss European issues hardly known to many American conservatives. Nod oubt she is well aware that the breaking of eggs by power-hungry leftists has never, in all history, resulted in a tasty omelette.

  2. At the plebian level climate change/ global warming is a religion slipping over to a cult. At the elite level it’s a tool for power and control.

    It’s amazing to think this is now over 30 years old with all the failed predictions and counter data. Yet the propo machine keeps humming along. The most amazing scientific fraud ever perpetuated. And the most amazing instance of mass brain washing.

  3. Well, if nitrous oxide is such a threat to human well-being, the WHO should take it off its list of essential medicines: “Nitrous oxide is an inhaled gas used as a pain medication [by dentists] and together with other medications for anesthesia. Common uses include during childbirth, following trauma, and as part of end-of-life care. Onset of effect is typically within half a minute, and the effect lasts for about a minute.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHO_Model_List_of_Essential_Medicines

  4. These eco-doomsdayers are ignorant of the fact that the default condition of man is that of poverty, living in filth, disease, early death, excruciatingly hard labor, violence, and general despair. The past several decades of relative peace and prosperity (brought to you in large part by capitalism) are the exception, not the rule, and the meddling left will result in hitting the reset button for much of that progress.

  5. “Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded—here and there, now and then—are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
    This is known as ‘bad luck’.”

    – Robert A. Heinlein

    I fear we are in for another round of bad luck. I agree with Physics guy. It is hard to believe that this delusion persists, especially among the young. Gramsci knew his business.

  6. The smart folks in DC and NYC don’t need agriculture..their food comes from Whole Foods.

  7. 1. Prosperity is not the work of a tiny minority.
    ==
    2. The abusive Dutch government is an assemblage of social-liberals and Christian democrats. This is the Eurotrash establishment at war with the country’s farmers. The Green and red left are good for about 30% of the vote in the Netherlands in sum and are part of the opposition right now.

  8. In the recent provincial elections, the three parties vigorously opposed to the government took about 28% of the vote (v. 21% in 2019) and the government parties scored about 28% of the vote (v. 37% in 2019). It’s a move in the right direction, but not enough.

  9. Sri Lanka went to all-organic farming in 2021.

    Your favorite search engine will allow you to see the results of that decision.

  10. Climate change is like a vampire. No amount of evidence, reason, and failed predictions can put a stake through its heart.

    “If a doctrine is not unintelligible, it has to be vague; and if neither unintelligible nor vague, it has to be unverifiable.” Eric Hoffer “The True Believer” That’s climate change.

    I spent a few summers on my grandparents’ farm before WWII. They had no electricity, an old beater of a tractor, and two good plow horses. The days began before sunrise and ended when n it was dark. They used coal oil lamps for illumination after dark. and in the early morning hours. Early to bed and early to rise. A vigorous and purposeful life. I learned where food comes from, how it’s produced, and why water and fertilizer meant good crops. It appears that too many people don’t understand this now. It’s self-inflicted damage to the necessities of life.

    We are living in a time of mass delusion. How do we wake the country up and pull out of this dive? An honest MSM could do it, but I hold scant hope for that.

  11. Western civilization is commiting suicide. Islam will dominate (“Kill the Christian, kill the Jew”—from the Koran. the literal words of Allah, PBUH).

  12. “Democracies that destroy themselves”?

    Should be “Political parties—and fellow travelers—that destroy their countries (in the pursuit of taking total power)”
    “Thousands of non-citizens have made it onto U.S. voter rolls, watchdog warns;
    “In Pennsylvania alone, tens of thousands of non-citizens made it onto the state’s voter rolls over decades.”—
    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/tens-thousands-non-citizens-made-it-pas-voter-rolls-20-years-says

    File under: Just another “Mistakes were made” moment!

  15. RE: Tuvea’s trenchant comment of 5/20, I offer this from Foreign Policy:
    “The farrago of magical thinking, technocratic hubris, ideological delusion, self-dealing, and sheer shortsightedness that produced the crisis in Sri Lanka implicates both the country’s political leadership and advocates of so-called sustainable agriculture: the former for seizing on the organic agriculture pledge as a shortsighted measure to slash fertilizer subsidies and imports and the latter for suggesting that such a transformation of the nation’s agricultural sector could ever possibly succeed.”

    The lesson to American phony sustainabilty, AGW nuts, and Democrats will be lost. I believe “farrago of magical thinking” best describes Biden and his desired policies.

  17. Neo, I remember. But the Foreign Policy quote is too cutting not to quote and pass it on. After all, one does not encounter a farrago daily! A beautiful word!
    And it applies to Biden and company in full.

  19. it does seem to be a gentleman c, if you are grading on a curve,

  20. I happened to run across this channel on Youtube, devoted to traditional Japanese gardens and, watching some of their videos about traditional Japanese gardeners creating, rehabbing, or maintaining traditional Japanese gardens, I was extremely impressed by the keenness of perception, the artistry, craftsmanship (done usually using traditional manual techniques), extremely meticulous attention to even the tiniest detail, the hard work–rain or shine–and the dedication of these Japanese gardeners.*

    This in contrast to many of our “mow, blow, and go” landscapers here in the U.S.

    * See, for instance, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brPbEARn6G4

  21. P.S.—And yes, in the case of Japan I do realize that we at dealing with a very fundamentally different culture, mind-set, and set of values.

  22. A great deal to admire in Japan…though there are those Japanese who flee it at the first opportunity—presumably those who are uncomfortable being hammered down for sticking up (or out).
    Nonetheless, remarkable in their meticulousness (as you mentioned), their discipline (though once again not everyone’s cuppa tea) and respect for tradition as well as for people, that is, those whom they believe deserve respect (though it’s probably not a good idea to ask Koreans about this aspect of Japanese culture, and not only Koreans); but things have changed, it would seem, since 1945…and the years of occupation…. Or, OTOH, may merely have been driven underground.
    In any event, every culture has its bizarre dichotomies. Japan’s seem to be, among others, a strange combination of the sickly sentimental and the utterly cruel.
    Go figure. Though this, too, may well have changed since 1945…if NOT with everyone’s approval, mind you, as a certain successful novelist reminded us about 50 years ago or so…but then he was an exception (if not in his thinking—though how might one know?—then in his decisive, ultra-symbolic—TRADITIONAL—decision).
    There is a definite historical aggressivenessl though along with an acknowledgement—a realization (self-knowledge?)—that such aggressiveness must be tempered and controlled if the nation is to survive (hence the custom of bowing; hence Hirohito’s—the God Emperor’s—monumental decision).
    And yes, all that meticulousness…history and modernity vying with one another, co-existing somehow. Quite successfully, in fact; yet, THEY are unable to for whatever reason believe enough in the past OR in the future to reproduce at replacement levels. (Of course, they are not the only ones….)
    Yes, meticulous even to the extent of waking up “a sleeping giant”…though that one they didn’t seem to think through all the way to the end (even if they DID have some “bad luck” along the way…but I guess that’s what can happen when one persuades oneself that one’s back is against the wall)…
    …which might make one think about the connection (if any) between bonsai and banzai….
    Nonetheless, when all is said and done, one could learn an awful lot from them…
    Here’s a taste—from someone who might be considered a (youngish) Japanese version of Jordan Peterson…:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04wZNnjdURE

  24. That story about the Xhosa people is a great anecdote, and I hadn’t heard of it before. Slight correction: The Dutch war on nitrogen is waged primarily on the premise that its use messes up the natural ecosystems of adjacent areas designated “Natura 2000” by the Dutch government under EU regulations. It’s not necessarily a response to climate change. The idea is that some plants fare better with more nitrogen while others fare worse (which is true, of course, but who cares?).

  25. Western civilization is commiting suicide. Islam will dominate
    ==
    Leaving aside those places benefiting from natural resource bonanzas, the most affluent Muslim states in the world are Turkey, Malaysia, Maldives, and Bosnia. Two of these are small countries and a third has to contend with large (non-Muslim) minorities hold most of the human capital. None of these four have above-replacement fertility. None of them qualify as affluent countries, though Turkey and Malaysia you might classify as ‘high middle income’, with per capita product about 40% that of the United States. If you look at the petro-states who have reached a situation where the ratio of fuel and mineral exports to nominal domestic product is now below 0.25, you see Saudi Arabia (sorely dependent on guest workers for skilled labor), Kazakhstan (large non-Muslim minority, secularized), and Iran (perhaps the best example of an antagonistic country not all that dependent on guest workers). None of these countries have above-replacement fertility, either. Indonesia has a largish economy, as does Egypt. Indonesia’s been quite economically dynamic and Egypt more than you’d think. Islam in the former tends to be lax and syncretistic. Egypt’s done better than people realize, but it still tolerating illiteracy in > 25% of it’s adult population and has yet to conquer the Sinai peninsula.

  27. Barry Meislin–

    There are many ways that a society can commit suicide.

    Admirable though they may be in many ways, like some other nations, the Japanese are in the midst of a predicted demographic death spiral, which will see the collapse of their population (and, I’d imagine, any real influence that nation might have on the world) in the not so distant future.

    This spiral could be averted if they allowed large scale immigration by non-Japanese settlers into a homogeneous, 97.9% ethnic Japanese Japan, but letting in foreigners is not something they are willing to do.

  28. No, they probably won’t go that route, at least not to any significant extent.
    What I suppose they MIGHT do is implement a program to encourage families to have children (assuming they haven’t done so already); and if that doesn’t achieve the desired result then I imagine they’ll embark on a significant artificial insemination plan…unless there’s something about THAT that runs counter to Shintoism (I don’t know enough about it).
    (Significantly, China is now encouraging couples to have children. Has been for some time, but now they’re really pushing it.)

  29. Barry Meislin—.

    On a fundamental level, the change from a mostly agricultural society to one based on manufacturing and technology, and the subsequent move of a large percentage of the population from the villages and the countryside to large urban areas—urban settings which quite often feature very small, crowded, and very expensive accommodations–plus the sheer cost of raising children, has discouraged having large families.

    From my perspective there are also some really strange cultural dynamics taking place in Japan these days, such as the phenomenon of some young people living sexless lives, or living holed up in their apartments or video game parlors, and never leaving.

    And what is this fascination with childish cartoon characters?

    Then, there are the reports of “liberated” young women who want and have careers who cannot afford to marry or to interrupt those careers to have children.

    How about Japan’s aging “left over women?”

    Sex hotels everywhere, what is that all about?

    And, from reports, government efforts to promote having more children have just not worked.

    The driving spirit that used to animate traditional Japan has, it appears, just dwindled away, and I don’t see any way to recapture and to reignite it.

  30. Barry Meislin–

    If you believe analysts like Peter Zeihan, in many instances past actions taken–as in the case of China and its former “one child policy”–mean that these demographic catastrophies are already baked into a country’s demographic structure, and there is not any easy way–or perhaps any way at all–to reverse them.

    If people just don’t feel like having children–if the spirit and the optimism about the future isn’t there–it looks like it’s pretty hard to cajole them to do so.

  31. Not sure. Possibly.
    I believe that WRT China, the one-child policy MEANT scads of abortions…almost always of female fetuses.
    I’m pretty sure that this is documented. Especially in the case of farmers, but not only.
    That being the case, it stands to reason that there will NOW be far more girls being born.
    We already know of the huge disparity in population between male and female in China created by the benighted—if perfectly “LOGICAL” from a top-down, bureaucratic, totalitarian standpoint—policy vis-a-vis the perceived “NEED” to reduce the population..
    And it is not unlikely that this grim and unworkable disparity is what persuaded Xi to switch directions (though it wouldn’t surprise me if the CPC first would have publicly declared something along the lines of “We have ACHIEVED our goals yadda, yadda, yadda! We can now—graciously—allow more children to be born per couple…”)

  32. Barry Meislin–

    Then there is the phenomenon of Kodokushi—people apparently deciding to or having to, die a “lonely death” (in what one would have thought was a very family-oriented and tight-knit society), and reports that each year an estimated 30,000 Japanese (the actual number may be a lot higher) die alone, and are often only discovered to have died alone by the smell, with an industry having grownup to clean out their homes and apartments, and to dispose of their possessions.

    The appearance of phenomena like Kodokushi perhaps another indicator of disintegration in Japanese society.

    See https://min.news/en/world/eb18e95cc336b62f4d30c3a66060ffbc.html and

    https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/so-many-japanese-people-die-alone-theres-an-industry-devoted-to-cleaning-up-after-them-1804387

  33. Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

    C. S. Lewis

  34. De-population–that’s the Holy Grail of the environmental movement–to save Mother Gaia from destruction by the human race.
    Advocating for & promotion of homosexuality, transgenderism, universal abortion on demand, abolish the amenities of First world societies, undermine the traditional family, undermine traditional religion, all to stop and/or reverse the human population.

  35. Bill Sierra—And yet, what the more sane analysts are pointing to is not a coming overpopulation, but a coming under population in the world’s future.

  36. @ Snow “a coming under population in the world’s future.”

    Sarah Hoyt has written extensively about that; she totally dismisses the population figures cited by the UN as having been made up by third-world countries to claim higher numbers, because that brings in more aid.

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