Yesterday, Yuko and I finally managed to catch up with a programme we’d been meaning to watch when it was first shown on Channel 4 (it was repeated on More4 yesterday). Absolutely fascinating programme and quite depressing at the same time.
I’m originally from the countryside, and watching the programme has reminded how I’ve sort of come full circle. When I was in school, we’d go on trips to the farm, and learn about agriculture (given how important it was to the Welsh economy 15-25 years ago). During the end of my time in senior school and then onto University and my working life, I’ve became somewhat of a ‘townie’. The time in Japan, and Peak Oil Awareness while I was there, has changed my outlook. I’m certainly more aware of country issues, and feel some dismay about the lack of knowledge shown by some elements of town society in the UK. No… beef does not grow in a plastic bag and arrive magically in Tescos! This programme, together with some others such as ‘Kill It, Cook It, Eat It‘ and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s shows have got my interest in all this stuff again.
Yuko’s response has been pretty interesting as well. She did a lot of ‘Home Economics’ whilst in senior school in comparison to myself. Having said that, that seems to be part of Japanese culture to ‘produce good housewives to look after their husbands’. Whilst a lot of this was very good, in that there was a lot of info on how to cook at home from raw ingredients (as opposed to nasty ready-meal and lazy food)… again, there was a lack of making that connection of how those raw ingredients got into the supermarket in the first place.
Comparing the two, there seems to be marked difference between Japan and the UK (well, by my observations anyway). In Britain, there is a large core of people who are completely ignorant of anything to do with the countryside and food production, plus a small (but growing) mixture of people who are either farmers, or people who appreciate how the countryside works, and the complete food production process.
In Japan, there is a greater appreciation of using raw ingredients, but a complete lack of awareness in practically the whole of society of where food comes from. It’s a pretty scary state in Japan if most of your farming expertise lies with the over-60’s (the UK and France are less scary).
Anyway, back to the programme. It started out looking at fox hunting (which IS something I disagree with… well fox hunting for sport, as opposed to genuine pest control), but then started to delve into how ‘townie inspired wishy washy animal loving’ influencing government policy means farmers just can’t do what they are meant to be doing… producing food for the UK. As a few of the farmers stated, it seems the countryside is just being turned into a play area for the rich.
Stansted
Today, there were protests about the proposed expansion to Stansted airport. The BBC reported that it was interesting to see ‘non-typical’ eco-warriers protesting. Well-dressed, rich people saying our this is going to increase CO2 emissions etc etc. Now call me cynical (again! 
), but one suspects that most of those protesters were just a bunch a NIMBY-ists. I guess that if one of the airports in the North of England was being expanded, they probably wouldn’t care a bit about CO2 emissions (as their drove their big engined cars).
Monbiot
He confuses me sometimes. He’s certainly a great campaigner for action on Climate Change, but his views on Peak Oil have always been somewhat mixed. Now, all of a sudden, he seems to be getting worried about it again.
I loved his comment:
There are plainly two governments of the United Kingdom: one determined to reduce our consumption of fossil fuel; the other determined to raise it.
