Interesting. I’m disappointed, but not surprised, to hear about the prohibition on gas exploration in Groningen and its natural consequences, having witnessed incoherent Dutch eco-puritanism where I live, a Dutch Caribbean colony.* (*I’m using the word “colony” here because as a special municipality of the Netherlands, Saba cannot set its own laws as, for instance, St. Maarten can, and also we don’t really have representation in the Tweede Kamer, either.)
On Saba, the Dutch government constantly fusses at us about how we need to become food self-sustainable, i.e., we should grow enough food on Saba to support the population. (Never mind that this is not a standard that the European Netherlands holds itself to, recognizing the virtue of free trade when it comes to importing their own food.) However, we are also in the midst of a controversial Dutch campaign to eradicate “invasive species” that are “unnatural” on Saba, to “return” the island to its “original” state. What are these invasive species? Well, mainly goats and chickens, livestock that have been used to feed Sabans for hundreds of years. So we should be food self-sustainable, but not in a way that offends the aesthetic standards of having a “natural” island. So, uh, we keep importing factory-farmed meats from the United States, which are produced in a less eco-friendly way, and which have to be shipped hundreds of miles on boats.
I bitched further about puritanical Dutch animal management on Saba here:
Interesting. I’m disappointed, but not surprised, to hear about the prohibition on gas exploration in Groningen and its natural consequences, having witnessed incoherent Dutch eco-puritanism where I live, a Dutch Caribbean colony.* (*I’m using the word “colony” here because as a special municipality of the Netherlands, Saba cannot set its own laws as, for instance, St. Maarten can, and also we don’t really have representation in the Tweede Kamer, either.)
On Saba, the Dutch government constantly fusses at us about how we need to become food self-sustainable, i.e., we should grow enough food on Saba to support the population. (Never mind that this is not a standard that the European Netherlands holds itself to, recognizing the virtue of free trade when it comes to importing their own food.) However, we are also in the midst of a controversial Dutch campaign to eradicate “invasive species” that are “unnatural” on Saba, to “return” the island to its “original” state. What are these invasive species? Well, mainly goats and chickens, livestock that have been used to feed Sabans for hundreds of years. So we should be food self-sustainable, but not in a way that offends the aesthetic standards of having a “natural” island. So, uh, we keep importing factory-farmed meats from the United States, which are produced in a less eco-friendly way, and which have to be shipped hundreds of miles on boats.
I bitched further about puritanical Dutch animal management on Saba here:
https://doctrixperiwinkle.substack.com/p/chickens-come-home-to-roost