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It's not a "wasteland" in the usual dry sense. It's too damp. Peat bogs, not dusty plains. I once rode from Carna to Galway on horseback. It's bleak, and there

It's not a "wasteland" in the usual dry sense. It's too damp. Peat bogs, not dusty plains. I once rode from Carna to Galway on horseback. It's bleak, and there are many tiny abandoned farms, but that's left over from the days when Cromwell exiled the Catholics. Most of that area never got to industrial scale agriculture. East of Galway, towards Dublin, there's more partitioned farmland, much of which isn't growing useful crops. In County Cork, where the author is, the coastal area to the west is similarly bleak, but the interior regions have farmland. And sheep. Sheep seem to be the big problem. They will grind vegetation down to nothing. If trees are cut down and sheep brought in, the land stabilizes as overgrazed pasture. Then it won't support many sheep, but what it will support will keep it overgrazed. The author seems to want to return more of the farmland to its natural bleak state. Maybe with more trees. The author is unhappy that there are "no big and wild areas that have bears and wolves and mountain lions." Bears have been extinct in the wild in Ireland since 1000BC or so. Hard to blame industrial agriculture for that. The last grey wolf was killed in Ireland in 1786. Somebody sighted a mountain lion in Cork County in 2018, and there was a major freak-out.[1] The population is used to a predator-free environment. [1] https://www.irishpost.com/entertainment/ireland-unexplained-reports-mountain-lions-pumas-stalking-irish-countryside-169883 https://www.irishpost.com/entertainment/ireland-unexplained-...

alephnerd 2y ago
> The author is unhappy that there are "no big and wild areas that have bears and wolves and mountain lions." Don't let your children play outside. You're being glib but overfarming does drastically reduce ecological diversity, which has a downstream impact on the health of the environment as a whole. In fact, Ireland's biodiversity collapse is one of the worst in Europe [0]. The British Plantation system really did a number on Ireland, as much of Ireland during colonial rule was converted into ranches and plantations to export beef globally. Ever wondered why Corned Beef is a thing on St Paddy's Day among the diaspora? That's why - native Irish were too poor to buy Irish Corned Beef that was exported abroad to the UK, America, Canada, Australia, etc. [0] - https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/climate-crisis/2023/02/11/ireland-worst-in-world-for-wetlands-depletion-over-past-3-centuries-global-study-finds/ https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/climate-crisis/2023/0...
biorach 2y ago
> Sheep seem to be the big problem. They will grind vegetation down to nothing. If trees are cut down and sheep brought in, the land stabilizes as overgrazed pasture. Then it won't support many sheep, but what it will support will keep it overgrazed. Sorry but that is wildly out of touch with the reality on the ground. Any farmer that allows overgrazing to happen would not be a farmer for long. There are plenty of sheep flocks but they are by and large managed well. While there are certainly issues with biodiversity and habitat loss, overgrazing by sheep is not even near top of the list of causes

alephnerd 2y ago

> The author is unhappy that there are "no big and wild areas that have bears and wolves and mountain lions." Don't let your children play outside. You're being glib but overfarming does drastically reduce ecological diversity, which has a downstream impact on the health of the environment as a whole. In fact, Ireland's biodiversity collapse is one of the worst in Europe [0]. The British Plantation system really did a number on Ireland, as much of Ireland during colonial rule was converted into ranches and plantations to export beef globally. Ever wondered why Corned Beef is a thing on St Paddy's Day among the diaspora? That's why - native Irish were too poor to buy Irish Corned Beef that was exported abroad to the UK, America, Canada, Australia, etc. [0] - https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/climate-crisis/2023/02/11/ireland-worst-in-world-for-wetlands-depletion-over-past-3-centuries-global-study-finds/ https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/climate-crisis/2023/0...

biorach 2y ago

> Sheep seem to be the big problem. They will grind vegetation down to nothing. If trees are cut down and sheep brought in, the land stabilizes as overgrazed pasture. Then it won't support many sheep, but what it will support will keep it overgrazed. Sorry but that is wildly out of touch with the reality on the ground. Any farmer that allows overgrazing to happen would not be a farmer for long. There are plenty of sheep flocks but they are by and large managed well. While there are certainly issues with biodiversity and habitat loss, overgrazing by sheep is not even near top of the list of causes