The Farmer wants a break (and a wife)
Welcome to Australia, a sunburnt country of sweeping plains, with one of the world’s most urbanized populations. In our heads, we buy into our own collective mythos that we are all rangy, tough, outback lads (and ladettes) who are good in a fight, tersely spoken and true believers in the concept of “mateship”. Once upon a time, say prior to the second world war, this was probably true. Now, however, we have a problem with the deep divide between our urban population and our struggling primary industries.
I just came across a recent news item bemoaning the fact (it was the Sydney Morning Alarmist Herald, so they weren’t happy about it) that a majority of Australian farmers are sceptical of climate change and don’t think it is going to affect them in their lifetimes. Which is not to say that they don’t think they are affected by climate itself, almost all of them mention that their biggest challenge is the drought, they are just canny enough to realise that a prolonged drought on the world’s driest continent (after Antarctica) probably isn’t much of a headline.
Then I found another recent headline from the UK, and funnily enough, the majority of British farmers don’t think they are being affected by climate change, either. Up 12% from last year, following the whole Raj “Bodice-Ripper” Pachauri-IPCC / Climategate debacle. Interestingly, this poll showing 62% of British farmers feel unaffected by climate change, has been reported in two different ways: One was “Growing number of British Farmers not feeling climate change: Survey”, and the other trumpeted “Third of farmers hit by climate change!”. I would like to think ‘ole Joe Public can’t be that dense to ignore the fact that 40% of farmers saying they are affected by climate change is a minority, but I’m not going to hold my breath on it.
I’m thinking that the people who are living and working on the land are probably the people in the know about what the weather and / or climate is doing, given that their entire livelihood depends on it. So I thought I would wander further afield into the internet farmosphere and see if there is a (forgive me) consensus forming amongst farmers.
At the end of a slightly productive one and a half minutes (before I got bored), I discovered that dairy farmers in the US boycotted the Monterey Aquarium for their display of a cow in a gas-mask with a speech bubble (speech bubble?!) requesting the world have less cows. Meanwhile in Brazil, a climate change summit in Bolivia has descended into bickering following President Evo Morales making pointed comments in regards to the Brazilian broiler chicken industry, to wit:
“the chickens we eat are loaded with feminine hormones” and that is why “when men consume these broilers they have deviations of their manly being”.
Which has caused him to become embroiled (har har) in controversy with the gay community AND the poultry industry. Now thats something you don’t get to say everyday. To my mind this illustrates the relative importance of climate change as a topic at the aforementioned climate change summit.
Anyhoo, I found this of passing interest and I hope you do, too. Otherwise, at least it gave me an excuse to do this:
Meet Natalie Gruzlewski, host of the quality Australian reality TV show “The Farmer Wants a Wife.” This picture doesn’t do that much for me, but I’m told the menfolk like this sort of thing. Otherwise, if Nat isn’t your cup of tea, I have included a picture of a cow in a gas mask, but seriously, I worry about you.
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