Germany is tightening its environmental laws: Expect to see warnings on food packaging soon.

Covid is forcing government’s to toughen their stance on climate change. And the West’s monocultural agricultural practice could be next in line for a major shakeup. This article outlines why.

On the back of Berlin recently announcing that it would seek to achieve climate neutrality by 2045, I thought it a good opportunity to examine how and why this decision was made in the midst of a pandemic, and what repercussions it will have in the realm of food production.

To fill you in, earlier in May Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz presented key points for a new climate protection law that would see Germany reach climate neutrality five years earlier than previously planned.

Additionally, the nation would aim to emit 65 percent fewer greenhouse gases by 2030 when compared to1990 standards, an increase of 10% up from it previous target of 55 percent.

The new measures come in response to recent German Federal Constitutional Court criticisms that the government’s existing laws were inadequate.

Although several national environmental groups have complained the new plans offer too little too late, it is important to view what the decision means within the larger picture of Covid.

So in today’s post, I thought to run through a number of knock-on effects the new targets will likely have on one key but sometimes overlooked aspect of climate protection, and that is the use of the synthetic herbicide glyphosate in much of Western food production.

To firstly give you some background into what I do, I am what might be roughly described as an evolutionary phenomenologist, in that I analyse how current behavioural patterns replicate similar behavioural patterns of the past. I do this to make predictions on the future.

This involves looking at systems, understanding how trends or ideologies converge together, how those confluences might influence markets, and how certain systems can be designed or shaped better to help human progress.

Another reason I am writing this is that I grew up in the South West of Australia with farmers on both sides of my family, so I have a personal interest in how synthetic pesticides and herbicides have come to define the West’s monoculturalist food production system.