Ruth MottramMay 21, 2023

This paper on bird population declines is a real smoking gun in #biodiversity declines

"Agricultural intensification, in particular pesticides and fertiliser use, is the main pressure for most bird population declines, especially for invertebrate feeders."
We should be grateful to the thousands of volunteers who compiled the dataset: a "population time-series of 170 common bird species, monitored at more than 20,000 sites in 28 European countries over 37 years"
#birds
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2216573120

Show threadSøren HaveMay 21, 2023
@Ruth_Mottram I guess most had a hunch that mono-agriculture was a main reason, but maybe now regulators will act.
Show threadRuth MottramMay 21, 2023
@sorenhave gosh I hope so. But given the power of the agrilobby, I'm not sure I'm very optimistic..
Show threadSøren HaveMay 21, 2023
@Ruth_Mottram My hope is higher than previous, given both the increased awareness of the many damages (eg the recent story about the dead inner sea of Denmark) and the dual climate / biodiversity crunch from convenventions
Show threadRuth MottramMay 21, 2023
@sorenhave that is true. But I also worry that we are all too used to cheap food (and some people need it to be cheap of course!)
Show threadSøren HaveMay 21, 2023
@Ruth_Mottram Indeed. Which reminds me of this weekend’s special section of Information on food, where a student for a week should eat more plant-based, and had to conclude that within the current system, it is both more expensive and more cumbersome.
Show threadRuth MottramMay 21, 2023
@sorenhave I started eating vegan a while ago, it's much harder than being vegetarian.
It requires more planning, more time and indeed is much more expensive (in some ways). Compare for example the cost of beef burgers or sausages compared to vegan ones...
Show threadSøren Have
@Ruth_Mottram Sorry to say I still struggle with cooking (not with eating) 100% meat free. Maybe down to 25% compared to ‘before’.
May 21, 2023 at 9:24amWeb
Show threadRuth MottramMay 21, 2023
@sorenhave it takes time..
I don't miss meat, occasionally still struggle with cheese though, but only took me a month to get used to oat milk in tea. The palate is adaptable in the end. The main problem is getting the recipes in to your head so you don't need to look stuff up all the time.