By Leslyn Lewis, July 14, 2022
Climate Realists of Victoria does not take an official position on the Conservative Party of Canada leadership contest. However, this blog (which has been edited for length) by candidate Leslyn Lewis on the farmers’ protests in Holland and Sri Lanka is worth reading.
The obsession with carbon footprints has led to the extreme policies in Holland and is one of the driving forces towards the shift to digital currency—so that every activity, every purchase can be tracked for its “carbon footprint”.
This is what happened in Holland and Sri Lanka to calculate that farming was bad for the environment. Take cattle farming, for example: everything that a cow eats during its lifetime is part of the Net Zero calculation of the carbon footprint of a cow. That includes all the food that was grown, its transportation, the nitrogen in the soil that produces the crops, the gas used in the production of the food, etc.
When you sit down to eat a burger, governments believe that just as you should be warned about the number of calories, you should also be punished for the carbon footprint it took to give you that burger—from growing the grain, to feeding the cow, to processing the meat, and to getting it to your dinner table. Eventually, it will be deemed too damaging for the planet to partake in meat and beef consumption.
How is it possible that we can be putting this kind of pressure on farmers, but an electric car or a computer is not subject to the same scrutiny? Net Zero calculations do not look at the damage that lithium and cobalt mines cause to the environment. Net Zero doesn’t care about the poor African children, as young as 5 years old, slaving in those dirty cobalt mines. Net Zero seems to only care about the nitrogen content of farming.
This is why people are protesting in Holland, Sri Lanka and elsewhere—they know in their gut that something is unfair.
Years ago, Dutch farmers were promised that if they transitioned to sustainable farming, they could save their industry. Many farmers invested in expensive equipment that reduced emissions. Now the government is saying it isn’t enough—the farmers’ government is forcing a 30% decrease in livestock farms (raising animals for meat, milk, and eggs). The government has allocated $25.6 billion to help farmers transition to crop farming, relocate, or shut down their farms.
Netherlands is the second-largest global agricultural food exporter. But these rules set out by their government are non-negotiable. There is no democratic discussion and their government refuses to budge.
Sound familiar? That’s because this is how cancel culture works. It makes government the lord over the people, and it labels anyone who challenges the lies that justify the policies as a conspiracy theorist. The result is that people are silenced and oppressed and their only outlet to combat the arrogance of government becomes protesting in the streets.
For the full article, entitled “The Truth about Net Zero,” click here.