3 ms·

Right across the canal, in The Netherlands it's just as bad. I had to chop down thirty threes in the last two years that had stood for decades or more. Ash and

by berkes 3y ago

Right across the canal, in The Netherlands it's just as bad. I had to chop down thirty threes in the last two years that had stood for decades or more. Ash and oak (waterlogged, fungi), willow, chestnut and walnut (drought). But aside from trees, our current plant situation is especially bad due to excessive nitrogen deposit. Some species (nettle, bramble) are doing well, being nitrogen lovers, but they push out anything that isn't fond of extreme levels of nitrogen. Nitrogen overload is a hot topic here, because it's not only is it clearly man made climate change, it acts on a local geography. So everyone is "fighting": do we want less houses built, less nature, or less farmers. At least with the trees being in shock, it's not directly a local "fault". Governments cannot order laws for more or less rain (wel...) but they easily could for more or less nitrogen. Edit: oh, and my cats occasionally bring in a Rosse Woelmuis. They are my local favorite. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_vole?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_vole?wprov=sfla1

082349872349872 3y ago
> So everyone is "fighting": do we want less houses built, less nature, or less farmers. What stance do the "Partij voor de Dieren" (animals' party) take? (and is this what would count as "fighting" by US standards, or is it more along the lines of "we'll all write passive-aggressive rhyming couplets about each other's misbehaviours come christmastime"?)
- berkes 3y ago
  They (Disclaimer: like me) are for a massive reduction in farming. In the Netherlands, we produce insane amounts of beef, milk, and pork. There's far more pigs than humans in The Netherlands. Most produce is exported. But the "shit" (literally too) remains. The proteins to produce all that meat is imported. Reducing that to 50% will still be enough for net export, but solve the nitrogen crisis within years. It will, however, cause several thousands of farmers to have to stop or move to another business model (e.g. organic farming). Something they violently refuse to even consider.
  - berkes 3y ago
    And fighting: no. Literally. Farmers beat up people, block roads, drive over police corridors with tractors, have rammed through the doors of a local parliament with tractors. It's exceptionally violent and nasty. All triggered by law suits in which individuals and orgs forced the governments to actually start upholding their own laws wrt nitrogen deposits. It the quickly spiralled into actual violence, blockades, and grim protests.
    - 082349872349872 3y ago
      Wat is er gebeurd? Maar dat is niet normaal! As an anglophone, I'd say the farmers (for people who are at least metaphorically your neighbours) are acting rather ... boorish. (this explains the anti-immigration platforms: the farmers, deep in their hearts, know that if they keep on carrying on like this some dark-skinned individual will stuff them in a sack and take them by the slow boat to Spain)
pvaldes 3y ago
Sambucus would love this conditions But the main problem with some nitrogenated substances in soil is the suspicion that they trigger colon cancer
- berkes 3y ago
  It does. But like nettle and bramble, it's pushing out other species. Bramble, nettle, elderflowers (sambucus) are marvelous and valuable plants. And they have important roles in an ecosystem. It's just that the extreme nitrogen deposits have severely upset the balance. Maybe it'll settle on another level: nature commonly does that. And we'll then have to live with some species gone. I'm not yet ready to just accept that. Given how easy, technically, it is to prevent and turn it back around. To put some perspective: the Netherlands emits over four times as much NOX/km2 as the European average. With areas going over 10x the average. That is five times what was deposited around 1900. If you look at some maps with nox deposit, the outlines of the Netherlands are clearly visible: https://nos.nl/collectie/13901/artikel/2436073-het-stikstofprobleem-is-echt-nederlands-uitgelegd-in-acht-grafieken https://nos.nl/collectie/13901/artikel/2436073-het-stikstofp...
gerdesj 3y ago
"Rosse Woelmuis" sounds lovely (I think I can pronounce it properly). My grandad used to call bats: "flitter mice" which surely goes back many centuries. He was a farmer in Devon and things move quite slowly down (t)here. German famously has der fledermaus (opera and creature) and vleermuis is the Dutch for bat. In the Germanic languages you can swap out v and f, d and g and y and get pretty similar words. Maus and muis and mouse are pretty obvious too. No idea why we use bat in modern English - we are obviously the odd one out in the Germanic languages here and yet clearly we did used to use a similar word/description to NL and DE: Flitter mouse - vleermuis - fledermaus - bat (wtf!) I think that vleer (NL) means furry and fleder (DE) means ...something... and I know that flitter (EN) means to move erratically and fast. When I try to get Google translate to translate fleder it spits out bat and it also spits out bat for fledermaus. I doubt that German is broken. What does fleder (DE) mean? and how does it relate to fledermaus?
- berkes 3y ago
  Vleer comes from Vlerk, which means wings. So it's a quite literal name: winged mouse.

by berkes 3y ago

082349872349872 3y ago

> So everyone is "fighting": do we want less houses built, less nature, or less farmers. What stance do the "Partij voor de Dieren" (animals' party) take? (and is this what would count as "fighting" by US standards, or is it more along the lines of "we'll all write passive-aggressive rhyming couplets about each other's misbehaviours come christmastime"?)

berkes 3y ago
They (Disclaimer: like me) are for a massive reduction in farming. In the Netherlands, we produce insane amounts of beef, milk, and pork. There's far more pigs than humans in The Netherlands. Most produce is exported. But the "shit" (literally too) remains. The proteins to produce all that meat is imported. Reducing that to 50% will still be enough for net export, but solve the nitrogen crisis within years. It will, however, cause several thousands of farmers to have to stop or move to another business model (e.g. organic farming). Something they violently refuse to even consider.
- berkes 3y ago
  And fighting: no. Literally. Farmers beat up people, block roads, drive over police corridors with tractors, have rammed through the doors of a local parliament with tractors. It's exceptionally violent and nasty. All triggered by law suits in which individuals and orgs forced the governments to actually start upholding their own laws wrt nitrogen deposits. It the quickly spiralled into actual violence, blockades, and grim protests.
  - 082349872349872 3y ago
    Wat is er gebeurd? Maar dat is niet normaal! As an anglophone, I'd say the farmers (for people who are at least metaphorically your neighbours) are acting rather ... boorish. (this explains the anti-immigration platforms: the farmers, deep in their hearts, know that if they keep on carrying on like this some dark-skinned individual will stuff them in a sack and take them by the slow boat to Spain)

pvaldes 3y ago

Sambucus would love this conditions But the main problem with some nitrogenated substances in soil is the suspicion that they trigger colon cancer

berkes 3y ago
It does. But like nettle and bramble, it's pushing out other species. Bramble, nettle, elderflowers (sambucus) are marvelous and valuable plants. And they have important roles in an ecosystem. It's just that the extreme nitrogen deposits have severely upset the balance. Maybe it'll settle on another level: nature commonly does that. And we'll then have to live with some species gone. I'm not yet ready to just accept that. Given how easy, technically, it is to prevent and turn it back around. To put some perspective: the Netherlands emits over four times as much NOX/km2 as the European average. With areas going over 10x the average. That is five times what was deposited around 1900. If you look at some maps with nox deposit, the outlines of the Netherlands are clearly visible: https://nos.nl/collectie/13901/artikel/2436073-het-stikstofprobleem-is-echt-nederlands-uitgelegd-in-acht-grafieken https://nos.nl/collectie/13901/artikel/2436073-het-stikstofp...

gerdesj 3y ago

"Rosse Woelmuis" sounds lovely (I think I can pronounce it properly). My grandad used to call bats: "flitter mice" which surely goes back many centuries. He was a farmer in Devon and things move quite slowly down (t)here. German famously has der fledermaus (opera and creature) and vleermuis is the Dutch for bat. In the Germanic languages you can swap out v and f, d and g and y and get pretty similar words. Maus and muis and mouse are pretty obvious too. No idea why we use bat in modern English - we are obviously the odd one out in the Germanic languages here and yet clearly we did used to use a similar word/description to NL and DE: Flitter mouse - vleermuis - fledermaus - bat (wtf!) I think that vleer (NL) means furry and fleder (DE) means ...something... and I know that flitter (EN) means to move erratically and fast. When I try to get Google translate to translate fleder it spits out bat and it also spits out bat for fledermaus. I doubt that German is broken. What does fleder (DE) mean? and how does it relate to fledermaus?

berkes 3y ago
Vleer comes from Vlerk, which means wings. So it's a quite literal name: winged mouse.