Food for thought…

• Climate change: Can sending fewer emails really save the planet?
• These simple farming techniques can curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Dramatic change in farming policy for England
• The Benefits of forward-looking materiality

• Climate change: Can sending fewer emails really save the planet? Are you the type of person who always says thank you? Well, if it's by email, you should stop, according to UK officials looking at ways to save the environment.  Most people tend to think of the internet as a cloud that exists outside their computing hardware.  But the reality is when you send an email - or anything else - it goes along a chain of energy-burning electronics.  Click here to read the full article reported by David Molloy, BBC News

• These simple farming techniques can curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions.  Saving our climate - and the future of food - could be as simple as planting fields of clover or putting cows to pasture on wheat fields in winter.  These steps could go a long way in reducing farmers’ need for artificial nitrogen fertilizers that are driving rising nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions, a greenhouse gas roughly 300 times more potent than CO₂. Read the full article - reported in Canada’s National Observer.

• Dramatic change in farming policy for England - the world has watched with interest as Brexit unfolds and what the impacts might be in terms of travel, trade and even agriculture.  At the end of November, England’s Defra ministers announced more information about how England’s countryside will change dramatically after the Brexit transition period.  The new system ELM (Environmental Land Management) will pay farmers if they prevent flooding, plant woods, encourage wildlife and improve animal health and welfare.  This replaces the current system where landowners are paid according to the area of land farmed.  The new system will be phased in over the next 8 years but will mean big changes for many England farmers.  It is intended that the changes will lead to a “renewed” agricultural sector producing healthy food for consumption at home and abroad, and to environmental improvements across the country. To read the full article reported in BBC News click here

• The Benefits of forward-looking materiality - the COVID-19 outbreak shows that a topic that seems to be immaterial a few months ago, can be material today.  This article by Finch & Beak, explores how to prepare for the impact of future materialities.  Read the article