already grew there own food & lots more were encouraged to give it a go. There was a really positive response from the public and people seemed genuinely interested in the information leaflets we handed out.
Then, at 3-5pm on to visit Fresh-local food project in St Anns. Walk up after the demo for a tour of the gardens & muck in for a bit!
Food & Climate Change 3rd June Day of Action
It's time to detox the planet and take action on food and climate change!
3rd of June will see climate activists take action across the country to coincide with the start of the The UN Conference on World Food Security: the challenges of climate change & bioenergy. As world leaders and corporations come together to talk more hot air, people across the UK are taking real action on Food and Climate Change. Campaigners are planning actions, demonstrations, film nights, workshops and free food events as part of the Food & Climate Change Day of Action.
The campaigners from the Network for Climate Action are calling for a drastic shift in the way we produce and consume food.
Becky Grade from the Network for Climate Action says: " People all over the world are facing severe food & water shortages due to climate change. Food prices are rising and as fuel's peak matters will only get worse. The only solution is to switch to a low-carbon diet & food production system. This means eating local, organic & plant- based food. We need to do this now rather than waiting for more hot air from politicians. Changing your diet is a simple but highly effective step everyone can take".
Says Amanda Woods: "Eating animal products at the current level is simply unethical in the light of climate change and the current food crisis. The greenhouse gas emissions caused by livestock and industrial fishing account for 18 per cent of global warming: that's more than the emissions from the world's entire transport system (13.5%). We have to reduce the amount of meat and dairy we eat and shift to a plant-based diet."
The activists' call for low-carbon food is supported by two high-profile reports from the United Nations. The 2006 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation report on the impact of livestock found that livestock contributes 18% of global green house gas emissions:"Livestock's contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale. The impact is so significant that it needs to be addressed with urgency."
The recently published UN International Assessment of Agricultural Science provided a sobering account of the failure of industrial farming and found that it is small-scale farmers and agro-ecological methods that provide the way forward to avert the current food crisis and deal with the effects of climate change.
Becky Grade continues: "These UN reports prove that non-organic agriculture with it's dependency on fossil fuels for fertilisers & pesticides, GM crops and Biofuels are not the answer to climate chaos. We need to change our patterns of consumption and start eating local, organic, plant based food!"
The following publicly advertised events are happening across the country.
There will also be more surprise actions.
For info and updates before the 3rd June contact:07510285458
On the day phone: 07961917535
Notes for editors:
1. Network for Climate Action is a network of grassroots groups taking action against climate injustice. www.networkforclimateaction.org.uk
http://www.daysofclimateaction.org.uk; 2. Within the past year, global food prices have risen by 75%. Prices of wheat, soya, oilseeds, maize and rice are now at record levels. The World Bank has warned that 100 million more people are facing hunger and malnutrition because of rising food prices. This is partly due to rising fuel costs, extreme weather events & the growth of biofuels.
3. The report from the United Nations World Food Programme, the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) called for a back-to-basics approach to farming to meet the challenges of climate change and escalating food prices. The authors saw little role for GM technology in feeding the poor. The report was based on a rigorous and peer-reviewed analysis of the empirical evidence by hundreds of scientists and development experts.
http://www.agassessment.org/ 4. The overall purpose of the UM Conference on World Food Security Climate Change and Bioenergy is to address food security issues in the face of soaring food prices and the new challenges of climate change and energy security. The objective is to assist countries and the international community in devising sustainable solutions to the food crisis by identifying the policies, strategies and programmes required to safeguard world food security in the immediate, short and longer term .
http://www.fao.org/foodclimate/conference.html foody
- e-mail:
food@daysofclimateaction.org.uk - Homepage:
http://www.daysofclimateaction.org.uk Veggies Catering Campaign
Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street, Nottingham NG7 6HX [map]
Phone: 0845 458 9595 (0115 960 8254) - : - Email:
info@veggies.org.uk http://www.veggies.org.uk The next free vegan food giveaway in Nottingham is going to be on the 4th July.
People then proceeded to visit Fresh & Ecoworks community garden based at St Ann's allotments. Touring amazing gardens & saw a brilliant example of local, organic food being produced in the city.
Earlier posts, see:
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2006/08/348168.html http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2007/10/382929.html also .... Ready Steady Skip:
http://www.readysteadyskip.org.uk http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/03/393817.html http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/03/393838.html ____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Email:
tash@indymedia.org Member of the National Union of Journalists [No: 014345]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
___________________________________________
e-mail:
Veganists
04.06.2008 22:17
In reality a vegan diet without international "food miles" is very spartan indeed. Why are you highlighting in your propaganda what is, considering the reality of most people's desires, the most socially repressive, apolitical and therefore the most anti-working class solution to the problem of climate change, ie. veganism? If you really cared about the earth you would propound an anti-capitalist critique of modern energy production, farming and transport.
anonymous
Why Vegan?
05.06.2008 00:29
Yes - Chips!
The 'Livestock's Long Shadow' report, published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization revealed that the livestock sector alone generates 18% of all greenhouse gases.
Changing your diet is one of the easiest ways to cut emissions yet it's something not many people talk about - hence the need to give it a high profile on occasions like this. To avoid the devastating effects of climate chaos we can't continue eating food imported from the other side of the world, nor base our diet on animal products.
* Livestock industry produces 100 million tonnes methane each year (FAO, as above)
* Methane is 23 times more harmful to the climate than C02 (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization).
* 1.5 tonnes CO2 is saved annually by a vegan diet (4kg/person/day) (New Scientist)
* Livestock is also a major source of land and water degradation.
* As well as saving 1.5 tonnes CO2 every year, each person that goes Vegan For Life, will save 4022 animals lives, enabling all the world’s peoples to receive a Fair Share of the world’s resources.
Whilst organic meat and dairy, reared and farmed free-range on non-fertile grazing land, instead of the factory farmed equivalent, MAY contribute less CO2 than intensively farmed meat and dairy, it still involves more inputs in, by way of feed, energy and water, and emissions out, through methane, slurry, processing and refrigerated transport, than foods consumed directly.
In a hungry world we cannot continue to waste valuable food resources by feeding it wastefully to a second population explosion of animals. By eating food crops directly far less agricultural land will be needed, so that non-fertile grazing land can be allowed to revert to woodland or wild spaces for wildlife, (or used to grow oil bearing plants for cooking home-grown chips; oil which can then be re-used as vehicle fuel in the much reduced transport economy supported by a greater self-reliance on locally grown foods).
For diversity see the amazing example given by the Fresh Project:
As well as empathy for animals, libertarian leanings are a common thread among many vegans, class doesn't seem to have a lot to do with it, just a concern for the well being of humans, animals and the global environment.
More on Veggies' Climate Campaigns:
Pat
Homepage:
http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=1242
re: Veganists
05.06.2008 10:17
> as much CO2 as intensively farmed meat and dairy - it is in fact probably a lower CO2 alternative to vegan
> sources of protein like pulses which have to transported from warmer climates.
Animals are fed feed that is partly made up of those very same pulses transported from far away, so not only same emissions, but more as you need to eat more pulses then eaten by an animal which you then eat, than if you eat them directly.
For a lot of people, they see a vegan diet as something alien and soya. Look at what you eat, then take out the animal produce, and you'll usually find that a lot of your food is vegan, and doesn't require dependence on pulses; there's lots of sources of protein, and you don't need as much as you probably think in any case. And there are pulses that come from closer to home if you choose to buy those, if you're not already growing your own.
> In reality a vegan diet without international "food miles" is very spartan indeed. Why are you highlighting in
Just not true.
> your propaganda what is, considering the reality of most people's desires, the most socially repressive,
> apolitical and therefore the most anti-working class solution to the problem of climate change, ie. veganism?
That might be what's in your head, but far from it in mine, and not my experience either.
> If you really cared about the earth you would propound an anti-capitalist critique of modern energy
> production, farming and transport.
Perhaps I was last week and will be tomorrow! Why do people watch others getting off their arse and doing things always assume that we've not thought about it and connected all the issues!
person
Leaflet handed out did say if you cant go veggie,eat less meat& organic&
05.06.2008 15:20
The only thing I think that needs changing abit in the leaflet were that ploughing oxygenates & decomposes soil releasing carbon into the atmosphere,this is true though shallow plough isnt as bad.
Planting Fruit& nut trees is currently in a grey area according to some laws, due to crazy hygeine laws & other ridiculous factors.Bushes, Fruit & nut trees absorb the most carbon are easy to maintain if your trained or read up on it& dont require all the ploughing.
Anaerobic digesters are used by many water companies to treat sewage & the phosphate from this is then used on crops& the methane used to create power, Ive checked this out personally.
Though if you have a medium sized garden or allotment using a humanure toilet is easy, there are various sealed methods using wheely bins& 5 gallon oil containers that cost little. This is worth doing as if sewage system fails we currently get most absolutely essential phosphate mined from bird feaces on islands like Guam. THough are friends the pigeons have alot to offer!
You can pass this well researched info onto the Copyleft leaflet publishers, their details arent on it;)
The water we drink in nottingham comes from Derbyshire peaks ∨ is filter through natural buntersandstone in north notts& is pretty good, though Severn Trent in nottingham are currently putting flouride into drinking water which acts like a corrosive acid!. Many people who dont make their kids scrub their teeth shouldnt have them& or be educated, its not just down to poverty!,we shouldnt all have to pay
Green Syndicalist Member IWW,ICA,
Holy shit!& heaven on earth
05.06.2008 15:27
Fruit & nut trees,bushes& many herbs are easy to plant, perennial, dont require ploughing etc etc,etc. Also many on raw food diets are noticably younger looking& have more energy, plus often more time without the need to cook everything including many herbs
Microalgae is where cod get their omegas from & alot of seaweed+ other natural free food that are currently left to rot releasing carbon are an amazing source of food.
Green Syndicalist Member IWW,ICA,
More to come
10.06.2008 21:05
And Friday July 4th, to promote the Viva Roadshow at Nottingham's Council House the next day. See
pat
e-mail:
info@veggies.org.uk
Homepage:
http://www.veggies.org.uk
Eek the vegans are coming!
13.06.2008 11:41
The only solution is to switch to a low-carbon diet & food production system. This means eating local, organic & plant- based food.
Which is in many senses a contradiction in terms, you can be organic or vegan but realistically not both. Sure, there's a vegan on every bandwagon, including organics; I've had a good look at www.veganorganic.net, Its mostly fantasy and shaky, flaky permaculture. If we want to tackle the climate change associated with food, we need to tackle the problem as a whole. The problem is a society that mass produces food on an industrial scale, whether its plant or animal based. Don't get me wrong I'm not defending industrial meat production either, but the only way to sustainably produce food is in small scale mixed systems. Organic agriculture is about mimicing nature and natural ecosystems which without exeception include animals. From an ecological point of view grazing animals such as cows and sheep can play an important role in the maintainance of valuble ecosystems on marginal land. In the UKs damaged ecosystem they are fulfilling the role once taken by buffalo and other wild grazers and preserving heath, moorland and fen.
I don't really want to offend anyone, (I've long given up on that tbh)I think veganism is a cushy western urban lifestyle choice that doen't bare much relation to the realities of producing food. On the other hand so is eating industrially produced meat, but if that's the dicotomy we face then we are truly shafted. Another thing that makes me uncomfortable about veganism is that its about a bunch of western middle class 'environmentalists' (I've included the inverse commas due to the evident lack of understanding of our earth's natural systems) bringing their answers to a needy world for its own good, in short its a form of cultural imperialism akin to the golden arches but a whole lot more patronising.
chuckles