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dr3adlock t1_jdqbzi7 wrote

This is a great representation of the English countryside. We have compleatly devastated our wildlife and ecosystem's through blanket farming.

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sus_skrofa t1_jdqezc6 wrote

This used to be a hedge, and now there is only one tree.

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pronto_tonto t1_jdr0u7d wrote

... because the supermarkets and therefore presumably the public refuse to pay a reasonable price which would permit farmer's to maintain smaller field sizes, otherwise they can't compete with the prairie farmers of Canada or Australia. British food prices are amongst the lowest in the developed world but if you want to maintain a thriving ecosystem you have to be willing to pay more for your food.

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PickleFlaps t1_jdr63pz wrote

The British landscape has been largely man made for a couple of millennia.

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Forgotten_Son t1_jdr99z6 wrote

Yeah, I think there are now more woods in the UK now than there were 1000 years ago.

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lolwutpear t1_jdra2sc wrote

We shouldn't just compare ourselves to the nadir. If you lose 99% of something, then increase by 500%, you're still at 5%.

Keep up the progress!

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BarrySh1tpeas t1_jdrmpx1 wrote

Yeah! The English poors needs to pay their damn way in a capitalist society designed to keep them poor! How dare they not spend most of their poverty wage on sustenance?

Oh no wait no hang we already are…

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ecuinir t1_jdurrl3 wrote

The cost of food is not the issue - it’s just that food is bought after most other things. Food in the UK has long been cheap relative to almost all of Europe - even most of those countries that produce enough to be self-sufficient.

The cost of housing is absurd (whether rent/mortgage) and is the only real driver of poverty in the UK. Even ‘fuel poverty’ at the moment is a bit of a nonsense - people are only struggling with the cost of fuel (directly or indirectly) because their rent/mortgage is too high a proportion of their income.

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JibletsGiblets t1_jdsolms wrote

Should we have people starve instead? Or perhaps a one child policy to reduce populations? Or just import all of our food?

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paltala t1_jdsguwt wrote

You've clearly never been out to the lake or peak districts or into the middle of Wales, or even the middle of Scotland.

Also, where the fuck else are we going to get our food?

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MattPollitt t1_jdsib76 wrote

All of the places you mentioned are heavily human-altered landscapes through farming, deforestation, and the degradation of valuable habitat, and although some may find them aesthetically pleasing to look at, they are devoid of any true natural wilderness.

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purpleslug t1_jdt2b83 wrote

All of the landscapes you've mentioned have been intensively managed and are biodiversity deplete. The UK, including Wales and Scotland, is in the bottom 10% of countries for biodiversity intactness.

Meanwhile, other more densely populated countries - such as the Netherlands - have much more efficient farming sectors, so much so that they are significant exporters in Europe. They are also less biodiversity deplete.

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Mclarenrob2 t1_jdudd9i wrote

What a load of bollocks. There's millions of miles of hedgerows in the UK and hay/wildflower meadows. A lot of farmers now leave a 3 metre margin untouched around the edges of fields.

Don't you want to eat ?

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MattPollitt t1_jdukk6v wrote

We’ve lost 97% of wildflower meadows since 1930 and 50% of hedgerows since WWII.

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