Comments edmharris has made

  • Small scale actions with global reach


    The real action may be in small things; the real solution might be in lots of little solutions.

    I completely agree that we shouldn't discount actions which are labeled 'small-scale' or 'local', and I think urban agriculture is a great example (although perhaps human power - previous comment - could suggest some kind of car pooling arrangement?)

    Let's not forget, however, that even these 'small' actions can resonate on a large scale. Sustain, a UK-based group campaigning for better food and farming has recently released a report detailing a knowledge/expertise-sharing exchange between urban farmers in the UK and the US.

    I am sure that knowledge of these shared experiences - even at a great distance - will help and inspire those initiating urban agriculture projects in the UK in coming years.On The NYT on urban farming posted 1 year, 6 months ago 5 Responses

  • Summary of Research ...

    The Soil Association (UK) produced a nifty summary of the latest research on GM crops and yield which includes the one mentioned above and several others.
    More here. On Study: transgenic soy brings lower yields than conventional posted 1 year, 6 months ago 25 Responses

  • recognise politics of food activism

    You ask Braun about her choice of 'post-political path'. Obviously shifting from holding public office to running a food business is a big change in lifestyle, but it doesn't sound like Braun has moved beyond politics by any means!
    The aims of Ambassador Organics descibed above, including making sustainably-farmed food accessible to low-income or minority groups and encouraging 'human-scale farming', are political through and through.
    Last year around this time Grist pointed out an article in the Economist which explored the political power of food purchasing behaviour - I think that recognition of the power of choosing non-conventionally produced foods is vital in widening their appeal.
    Your politics aren't just for exercise at the ballot box, every time we put food in our mouths we're making political choices.
    More here.On An interview with Carol Moseley Braun about her biodynamic food company posted 1 year, 10 months ago 2 Responses

  • Corporate co-option of 'organic' and 'local'

    I think you are right to point to these challenges (opints 1 and 2) to the sustainable food movement as signs of its growth and success. It will emerge in the coming year, I guess, how resilient the burgeoning sustainable foods movement is to these attempts at corporate co-option. My feeling on this is that the 'organic' label is more vulnerable than the 'local' in the sustainable foods markets.
    'Organic' food products can be grown (or bought in bulk) by the conventional agribusiness-dominated food industry, distributed and sold through the conventional food system - see Wal-mart and Whole Foods (although lumping those two together is doubtless a little unfair).
    On the other hand, I suspect that 'local' foods might prove more resilient to corporate co-option. It is very difficult to incorporate the buying, distribution and sale of foods local to the point of sale into conventional large-scale food systems, becuase these systems run on a national- and global-level infrastructure (as we well know). On a very simplistic level, I guess there might be two ways the 'local' could still be co-opted by these big corporate players - either twist the official (USDA-regulated in the future?) meaning of 'local' as has been done with 'organic', or start a reinvestment in some of the local food infrastructure whose demise you have written about previously.
    More on this here.On Top green food stories of 2007 posted 1 year, 11 months ago 3 Responses

  • remember social impacts of food choices

    Glad to hear you'll be making good SUV choices.
    Interesting debate here around the carbon-intensiveness of local/conventional food shopping - the point about loss of local infrastructure is a good one. However - I think another important point is being missed - the environment is not the only thing impacted by our food choices. The social impacts of supermarket vs. local food shopping are very different, and should not be excluded from our analysis. Check out Worldchanging today.
    I've also written more about this here.On And other revelations from the latest big-media expose of local food posted 1 year, 11 months ago 9 Responses

  • tell us when you send it...

    Great letter.. I hope it has the desired effect. In order to help it on it's way, perhaps you can anounce when it has been sent, so that any other 'private citizens' writing to the prime minister/chancellor can write in support?On A letter from James Hansen pleads for action on coal-fired power plants posted 1 year, 11 months ago 13 Responses

  • relocalization

    Relocalization's a bit of a mouthful - but is out there in many different forms. The reasons forwarded by Heinberg for relocalizing agriculture and food systems are a bit different to many of those current in alternative food network movements, which say 'we should localize for these reasons...'

    Heinberg says 'we must localize, because we don't have enough fossil fuels not to' (and even if we did, carrying on burning them is not an option).

    This is a significant difference because the first argument (should...) is unlikely to persuade the majority of people, big business, government, whereas the second argument (must...) is a bit more clearcut. Doesn't mean they're not both valid, but is an interetsing distinction amongst arguments for food system localization.

    More at: Local Foods Research ProjectOn What a fossil-fuel free agriculture might look like posted 1 year, 11 months ago 68 Responses