disappearing

The orchards allowed Galician households to save hundreds of euros on purchases. Now they are disappearing

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The proverb says that ‘he who has a friend, has a treasure’. In the Spain of 2026, that of house price skyrocketedthe accumulated inflation two digits and loss of power purchasing power, the reality is much more mundane: those who really have a ‘treasure’ are families with access to a garden, a corral, fruit trees or a small stable with sheep and cows, self-consumption tools that help save and lighten spending in the shopping basket. Curiously, at least in Galicia, fewer and fewer people take care of their own vegetables or livestock. And that allows you to save more than 100 euros per month. What has happened? That the garden is losing weight in Galicia. And in an accelerated and indisputable way. So revealed it on Monday Vigo Lighthousethat after styling the published data by the Galician Institute of Statistics (IGE) has concluded that in the region fewer and fewer families resort to self-cultivation, fruit trees or small farms to alleviate their economy. It’s not just that their number has decreased in the last decade, it’s that it is already at historic lows. If in 2007 45.1% of the community’s households saved thanks to the potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots… harvested in their gardens, in 2024 that percentage was already a meager 25.1%, the lowest level in the historical series. What do the figures say? If you walk through Galicia it will be increasingly difficult for you to see people working in small gardens or taking care of animals. The IGE statistics They do not talk about large agricultural holdings or farms with a business focus, but rather about family savings, which is why they focus on a very specific part of the Galician agrarian map. All in all, its reading is resounding. If in 2007 there were 452,200 families that saw their economy lightened thanks to the cultivation of their own vegetables, at the end of 2024 there were already 278,500. In between, years of almost uninterrupted decline. There are small swings, but they are largely explained by the context. For example, between 2019 and 2020, coinciding with the pandemic, the number of households with gardens grew slightly. The IGE also reflects that the trend is not equally clear throughout the region. Although the garden is losing weight in the community, it is holding up better in the interior provinces. Its decline is much more pronounced in A Coruña and Pontevedra. Does it only happen with orchards? No. The IGE also investigated how savings have evolved thanks to other forms of self-consumption, such as the use of fruit trees, the production of homemade wine or cheese, the care of livestock to obtain meat, milk or eggs, fishing… And the ‘photo’ is practically the same always. For example, in 2007 there were 372,000 homes saving thanks to their own hens, chickens and eggs. In 2020 there were already 298,300 and at the beginning of 2025 they barely exceeded 202,600. The collapse is not only due to a loss of population. Its incidence rate also fell: from 37.1% in 2007 to only 18.3% in 2024. Exercise Households that save on food thanks to the garden (no.) Households that save on food thanks to the garden (%) 2007 452,188 45.09% 2011 444,843 42.00% 2016 406,384 38.34% 2021 384,283 35.81% 2024 278,519 25.12% And other forms of self-consumption? The same. The same thing happens with the food (and savings) obtained thanks to fruit tree cultivationhe cow milkingthe elaboration of wine or spirits homemade, the cattle breeding or the ‘pig slaughter’, which despite its roots in rural Galicia has also deflated. If in 2007 it was practiced in 20.7% of homes, in 2020 it was already reduced to 7.6% and in 2024 to less than 5%. In practice, this means that the slaughter has gone from being a saving for 207,300 homes to being a saving for 55,100. And why is it important? Beyond the greater or lesser interest that weight loss in gardens may have, the phenomenon is curious because it coincides with another, also noted by Lighthouse: Taking care of orchards or farms pays off. And a lot. After years of inflation and increases that have been fueled by products like eggsself-consumption has become a way to cut spending by more than 100 euros per month. In certain cases the savings can reach 120. On average, the garden allows you to reduce the shopping basket by 30 euros, chicken farms by another 22, beef (or rabbit) farms lighten the basket by almost 40 euros and domestic fruit trees by 18. The greatest source of savings continues to be the slaughter of pigs. Those who practice it save 51 euros every month, since they avoid buying pork. So why does it decline? The million dollar question. Having a garden, a corral or even a small farm with cows and sheep may save money on purchases, but it requires other precious resources: time and space. Added to this is the expense involved in caring for vegetables and livestock. In a Galicia that is no stranger to demographic crisis and she is getting older, that is a challenge. The region is not spared from the rural exoduswhich makes it difficult for families to have space for gardens. Image | MRC Témiscamingue (Unsplash) Via | Vigo Lighthouse In Xataka | In emptied Galicia there are town councils taking charge of gas stations and stores. The objective: not to be left without services

Fuel prices are so high that airlines are at risk of disappearing, according to Deutsche Bank

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On February 28, the United States and Israel bombed several cities in Iran, starting a conflict that has already spread to other countries in the Middle East, when Iranian missiles responded to Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or Dubai and other emirates. One of the consequences has been the rise in fuel prices at a dizzying pace due to the paralysis of a key corridor for global energy: the Strait of Hormuz. The days go by, prices continue to rise and when something as strategic as oil rises, it is a matter of time before the accounts come together. Deutsche Bank warns: the sword of Damocles is on the neck of the airlines. The context. Bloomberg collects the information sent by the German financial institution to its clients: while the price of crude oil has increased by 50% so far this year, it is aviation fuel that takes the cake. The British Argus Media collects the price of the jet in recent days for the hubs of Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and New York, where we see how it goes from 2.17 dollars per gallon on January 5 to 2.29 on February 5 until approaching 4 dollars per gallon on March 5 (3.95). In the United States, the price differentials between jet fuel and the price of crude oil range between $85 and $95 per barrel, equal to or higher than the cost of oil. That huge gap between the price of crude oil and that of refined products (called the crack spread) wreaks havoc. The last time a crack spread like this occurred was in 2005, when hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Why is it important. Because as the German entity highlights, 20 years ago the crack spread caused significant and widespread damage to the airline industry, which was the trigger for airlines to Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines filing for bankruptcy. The historical precedent sets off all the alarms. And Deutsche Bank is not alone: the CEO of United Airlines At the moment it has already warned that the increase in jet fuel prices will have a “significant” impact on first quarter results and that there could be an increase in air fares. Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Linenberg is forceful: Without immediate price relief, “some of the most financially vulnerable airlines could halt operations” and “airlines around the world could be forced to ground thousands of aircraft.” In detail. At the moment, airlines have plummeted on the stock market since the beginning of the conflict. American Airlines has lost 19% so far this year, but the blow is global: a group of 29 airlines, hotels and travel companies from Europe, Asia and North America together lost $22.6 billion in market capitalization in a single day, according to Reuters. In Xataka | The rocket and the pen: the theory that explains why the rise in gasoline is here to stay In Xataka | There is a hidden war to sell us the cheapest possible gasoline. One that Ballenoil and Plenergy already dominate Cover | Dawn McDonald and Daniel Shapiro

The waves are disappearing and we already know what causes it

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Imagine that one morning, one of the most famous natural wonders in your region disappears. It is not progressively lost, it simply ceases to exist from one day to the next. This is exactly what happened in October 2003 in the Basque thing. The Mudanka waveconsidered one of the best lefts in the world and an economic pillar for the area based on surf tourism, stopped breaking. The cause. It was not a mystery: a dredging of 243,000 cubic meters of sand Oka riverexecuted to facilitate the passage of barges to a shipyard, undid the underwater sandbank that, like a reef, sculpted the wave. The surf sank, and with it the local economy, which was based on surf tourism. This event is the starting point of ‘Las Olas Perdidas’, an investigation and exhibition at the Botín Center in Santander that unites the duo of artists and researchers from Cooking SectionsDaniel Fernández and Alon Schwabe, with the geomatics and oceanography group of the University of Cantabria. The project reveals an alarming truth: the oceans are losing their waves, becoming calmer, and we are the reason. Traveling in time. Just like the two researchers have recognized to ABC, although it seems impossible that the waves will end up disappearing, the reality is there. They point to the seas and oceans being calm and losing their strength. To demonstrate this, the GeoOcean team from the University of Cantabria applied its modeling technology in a novel way. According to the artists, they discovered the scientific group’s “ability to travel through time” to be able to see the waves that seemed to be only in the memories of the surfers. By using satellite imagery, historical databases, and complex numerical models, GeoOcean was able to do something amazing. “We indicated a day, month and year and they were able to show the height, speed or direction of the waves perfectly,” explains Fernández. All this with technology that today is used to predict future storms and the impact they may have on the coast. Although going back in time. The objective. Seeing exactly what was happening in the past made it possible to compare the state of the mythical wave before and after the key intervention that led to its eventual disappearance: a new breakwater. The conclusion in this case is that at the moment of ‘touching’ the seabed with any building or by simple trawling, the damage is caused by the wave. The investigation, which lasted two years, analyzed cases on all continents, including mythical enclaves now disappeared or degraded such as Cabo Blanco in Peru either Jardim do Mar in Madeira. They showed that when infrastructure cuts off the natural drift of sediment or dredging alters the seabed, the result is a loss of energy and, ultimately, the death of the wave. The injured. Logically, the fact of eliminating waves affects the surfers themselves, above all, and also the economy in general, since it is a very important driver of tourism in different regions. This has caused them to rise up on a war footing to defend the oceans and different phenomena. In Peru, for example, the protests of surfers and fishermen in Cabo Blanco were fundamental in promoting the pioneer “Law of Breakers”a unique legislation in the world that protects waves from infrastructure that could alter them. In Cantabria, groups such as ‘Surf & Nature Alliance’ are looking for formulas to declare the surf as natural heritage to prevent human hands from altering it. However, Cooking Sections warns of the other side: massive surf schools and championships that radically transform the life of a region is a double-edged sword. Surf-focused tourism and real estate speculation have fueled gentrification and, paradoxically, driven coastal development that ends up destroying the very waves that attracted people in the first place. The move to art. Science can sometimes be difficult to understand because you are working with a lot of data. That is why the team wanted to turn it into an artistic representation. Composer Duval Timothy turned the rhythms of each break before its disappearance into eleven unique sound pieces. In the room, eleven suspended structures undulate and vibrate activated by interpreters, simulating the “breathing” of those waves now extinct in order to raise awareness of the great problem that exists. In this way, ‘The Lost Waves’ uses data science to create an archive of what we have erased in the sea, demonstrating that the seabed and the surface are intimately connected and that our ‘scars’ on the ocean floor have direct consequences on the energy that materializes on the surface. Images | Silas Baisch In Xataka | We are clogging the ocean’s carbon toilet and it is something that is only going to cause us problems

A fifth of Apple’s annual benefit is at risk of disappearing overnight

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Apple had a big week a few days ago with the WWDC 2025. His most important event of the year, with the permission of the presentation of the iPhone, caught him at a critical moment for the turbulence crossed by AI, but resolved with a much more solid presentation than we expected. At 4,500 kilometers from there, a Washington judge deliberated about a decision that could be a drama for the company’s finances. Amit Mehta, the magistrate, He is studying to prohibit the payments that Google makes to Apple for keeping him as a default search engine in Safari. Why is it important. That check amounts to 20,000 million dollars a year and represents 20% of the income of Apple’s ‘services’ division, the second most important. And being a clean income, without operational costs, also represents around 20% of Apple’s annual net profit. The background. Mehta already ruled that Google violates antitrust laws With these agreements, preventing other competitors from accessing the privileged position in Safari. Now consider several measures to correct this, from forcing Google to share data with rivals to force Chrome’s sale as an independent product. Eliminate the agreement with Apple It would be very direct. There is a reading between the lines to the agreement: it is the form that Google has to deter Apple that it throws its own search engine. A direct and large payment that compensates for giving up its vertical integration. In figures: Apple’s services grew from 85,000 to 96,000 million in 2024. Without the agreement with Google, I would suddenly lose a fifth of its annual net benefit. There is no short -term alternative to replace 20,000 million with 100% gross margin. The threat. Precisely that: not finding a substitute that approaches what Google pays. No one monetizes searches in such a massive and efficient way. It seems very unlikely that Microsoft dedicates such a check to boost bing. And the scale is far from Openai’s possibilities, which already loses a lot of money a year to risk an amount that does not have in position yourself as a search engine. Yes, but. A final judicial decision could take years to materialize. The cause, of course, are the appeals. The judge has anticipated that eliminating the agreement would be a last resort if other measures do not work. And Google will also challenge any resolution that arises from the process. Between the lines. For Google, losing the default position in Safari would not be ideal, but financially would win by recovering those 20,000 million annually. Apple, on the other hand, would lose its main growth engine just when you need it most to reduce its dependence on the iPhone. The following if you reach a stage like this would be a very likely Apple’s own search engine with which to try to create a 20,000 million business a year … or as close as possible. Outstanding image | Alexander Gray in UnspashMockuuups Studio In Xataka | Tim Cook promised them very happy expanding to Apple thanks to China. The reality is that China has ended up conquering Apple

The earth’s crust is disappearing under California. The test is in its earthquakes

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The border between the mantle and the land cortex is a region that attracts interest of numerous geologists. Being so close and so far from the reach of the instruments that these scientists use perhaps a certain mysticism to this region, but above all, because the dynamism of The interactions Among the outermost layers of our planet makes this border a specially active region at the geological level. Scratching the bark. Now, a new study He has revealed A new aspect of this interaction. He has done it in the Sierra Nevada Californiana, or rather under this Sierra, where they have found evidence of how the mantle “pela” the earth’s crust. Delamination Geologists believe that, from time to time, fragments of the lithosphere end up detaching themselves and sinking into the upper layers of the terrestrial mantle. This process is known as alamination or sinking of the lithosphere and could be responsible for the notable differences in the thickness of the oceanic crust in contrast to the continental cortex, among other characteristics of the geology and geography of the planet. Generally, this process is seen as a “drip”: the heaviest rock of the cortex loses consistency and ends up detaching from the lithosphere to sink into the mantle, composed of less dense materials. However, Maybe this delamination is more abruptsomething like the terrestrial mantle “pelara” the cortex. Seismic waves. As usual in this type of studies, the team analyzed the way in which seismic waves move through the interior layers of the Earth in order to study factors such as the composition and density of these layers. Sierra Nevada is a seismically active region, which implies a greater ease to compile data in this way. The researchers responsible for the study They combined various sources of seismic data in their study, starting with this analysis, called the receiving function. The team combined it with the exhaustive catalog data of the Advanced National Seismic System (COMCAT). In this catalog they detected the presence of a “band of seismicity” in the region, located from 40 kilometers under the surface, which concentrated small earthquakes of magnitudes between 1.9 and 3.2. Break, I don’t drip. Thanks to the differences detected through the receiving functions, the equipment was able to find a differentiated layer in the mantle, a not so differentiated layer as it extends to the north and that is consistent with the hypothesis that part of the lithosphere in the South Zone broke out of the cortex several million years ago. The small earthquakes on the other hand, could be indicative that this detachment was made for breakage instead of drip, according to the authors of the study. The details of this analysis were published In an article In the magazine Geophysical Research Letters. Strengthening the hypothesis. The evidence is not yet conclusive as the team admits, but they add to the already numerous that support the hypothesis that the discontinuity of Mohorovičić (the border between the cortex and the upper mantle of the earth) is not abrupt under the mountain range from Sierra Nevada, but rather gradual. In Xataka | We knew that Yellowstone hid an immense volcano but not the place he would explode. Until now Image | Arttower

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