February 12: Stories That Caught Our Attention This Week

BBL, moving to Madrid. The city plans to turn some of its paved areas into gardens and green spaces in an effort to reduce the effects of climate change. Lots of positives here, folks: In a pilot program where rooftops of certain neighborhoods were covered in plants, temperatures went down four degrees. That’s a lot of degrees. Also, the green spaces allow for rain to be absorbed and stored as opposed to turning into runoff/floodwater.

The cheerleading lineup at Sunday’s big game boasted some pretty hot chicks. By the big game, we mean the Puppy Bowl. By hot chicks, we mean actual chickens.

Speaking of chickens, the USDA legalized ventilation shut down (which essentially bakes the birds to death within their barn) to kill massive numbers in the face of avian flu. Nobody’s keen on it, but the USDA requires the whole flock to die within 24 hours of the disease being discovered. This method is the quickest way to kill large groups: Hundreds of thousands of turkeys and chickens died this way last month across ten farms in Indiana.

And speaking of Indiana, one farming brother started cover cropping, and the other thought it was a bunch of baloney until he realized the cover cropped portion of their fields was more resilient and lucrative than the other portion. We love cover cropping, and loved this week’s New York Times piece on it.

Lastly, Lord of the Rings fans might have a shot at saving New Zealand’s flailing dairy industry, the Sydney Morning Herald reported this week. Some farmers are using their proximity to Hobbiton, a life-sized imitation of Bilbo Baggins’ Shire, to house tourists for profit ala a B&B farmstay. Looks beautiful to me. What do you say – wanna come with?