Thread by @mabonapgwynfor

An interesting thread by George Monbiot. But a few things come out of it.
There's an admission that a diversity of grazing animals have a role to play in maintaining a healthy environment. Farmed animals like cattle are important. With no grazing animals another form of /1

https://twitter.com/GeorgeMonbiot/status/1365217257111044101

monoculture, just as damaging, would appear.
Yesterday George, in ignorance more than anything, attacked Plaid's opposition to the Government's NVZs, claiming that the NVZs would be better, environmentally. The scientific advice is to oppose the NVZs. The NVZ proposal would /2

lead to farmers in upland Wales, notably Meirionnydd, to pull out of cattle, which would lead to only sheep grazing the highlands, thus creating the damage that he is so opposed to. One of the reasons why the NVZ is bad not only for farming but also for the environment. /3

Finally there's an admission that he wants to see the landscape revert to the forests that were there. We have the same percentage of canopy cover in Wales today as was here in the C15th. So he wants to take us back earlier, to the Protohistoric period, 4000+ years ago /4

George is talking a bout a 4000+ year process and wanting to change it over night, but constantly attacking, denegrating, finger wagging and criticising is no way to build a bridge to reach his goal. There are livelihoods, generations of work, a culture, and a way of life /5

that feel threatened by this constant barrage. Farmers have responded to dictats from everywhere, telling them what to do, and that a computer model knows best. Then they are blamed for the consequences of following these rules /6

Politicians come and go but the farms have been here for generations. Work with them and you'll find that the community is a willing partner, because they want to see improved soil, an improved environment for their stock, and improved outcomes for the society that they live in.