151–160 of 231 posts
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One could say that the initiative to subsidize farmers who use highly toxic chemicals and unsustainable practices resulting in depletion and eventual destruction of soil is also drastic. As in paying money to destroy the soil and help someone profit a bit extra in the process is maybe not the best investment of people’s taxes. Of course, it took us some time to start paying attention to the externalities. But now tha…
To clarify, I believe the goals are laudable, and the "drastic" adjective was the best approximation I had. My first guess would be to vote 2× yes, but I have some reservations: * I heard that even among organic farmers, it was not a clear 2× yes. * There is the question of efficiency of organic/no pesticide farming: are we going to have a really bad output and something less ecological in the end due to more work fo…
Are there any new ideas regarding small scale electronically controlled insect repellents and plant control ? I don't know .. like small ultrasonic transducers to annoy them or maybe LEDs .. or maybe changing pH conditions.
Small scale items in large scale industrial agriculture sounds like something that wouldn't work too great. And might cause even more issues. Makes me actually think how practical and ecological micro-drones would actually be? Have hundreds or thousands of these little things made out of plastic, with electronics and batteries in them. How do you track those and be sure each and everyone is responsibly recycled? It f…
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What is the sentiment about this vote within you and your group of friends/family? As I pass by Swiss countryside I see a lot of farmers claiming they will vote 2xNO as it presumably kills their business but I have a hard time believing that. Is there a swiss website where I can see current general sentiment regarding this initiatives?
Among friends and family, it's mainly 2× yes. You see a lot of banners in the cities for the initiative, but I don't know how good an indicator that is (political banners seem to have boomed in the last 3 years: each campaign now has its own that people rush to hang on their balconies, etc). As you said, in the countryside, you almost only ever see the 2× no ads. I don't really know how to probe for the general senti…
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There's a ton individuals can do. The societal solutions to this has been around from decades, if not centuries. Look up the documentary called Kiss the Earth for a good intro that covers this and more. As far as individuals goes, you can look for food sourced locally using regenerative agriculture -- agroforestry, permaculture, etc. The farm is usually operated as a diverse ecosystem that is designed to grow the soi…
They usually have livestock raised with the crops. People stopped doing this because of parasites, prions, and other pathogens like salmonella.
Can’t do much about prions. That wasn’t even discovered until after broad use of synthetic fertilizers.
Parasites can be an issue. Salmonella can also be an issue. But I think they are still an issue on ranches where livestock have to live with each other’s waste.
As far as salmonella getting into the crops ... it can’t survive more than a few hours outside of a host.
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> The problem with modern 2-party systems in the West Could you elaborate on this? Very few countries i know in the west have a 2-party system.
It's a common mistake to judge the entire west from an US perspective. But the UK is not very far from the 2 parties system either.
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Different means to the same ends. DNA is DNA no matter what organism it is in. Many genes are conserved through most orders of life.
Again, I'm not a biologist but I highly doubt that. Evolution had millions of years to create very specialised genes in different organisms. Genes have complex interactions between them and we don't always have a full grasp of those interactions. Cherry picking a single gene from an insect and transplanting it onto a plant might have unforeseen effects. I'm neither pro-pesticide nor anti-GMO but we should refrain our…
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> I feel like they are quite drastic initiatives To me the greatest thing about Switzerland's direct democracy is that society gets the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them with a very quick turnaround. If it really is a bad thing or has unintended consequences, the people will revert it back soon enough. I doubt that is the case, but time will tell. The problem with modern 2-party systems in the West is…
This is awesome, under what conditions would Brexit be a) possible and b) reversed in the Swiss model?