How to Feed the World and Save the Planet – A View from the Ground
We need people to be involved, consumers to take a stand. We need a global, cross-sectoral movement for localisation.
Food & Water
France | Not Perfect, But Possible – Seeing is Believing at Institut de Tramayes
After such an inspiring visit, the momentum can only build: the Institut de Tramayes will join us at the Gathering in Plessé in November. They’ll participate in our opening day, where we’ll collectively explore the question: What is a Université Paysanne?
Radiance of the Ordinary: Excerpt
I wonder, how do the swallowtails drink if too many people buy meat from grocery stores? How does the blood return to the soil? How do the coyotes and the vultures feast on the entrails from the farmer and the hunter? Our wedges, our separation, spills over into all of life. A chink in the chain. We cannot divide ourselves without dividing everything.
How One Young Farmer Became the Hero of the Day in Kwali
At Rural Watch Africa Initiative (RUWAI), we believe that empowering one young person can ignite transformation across generations.
Angels of Backlands: How Traditional Knowledge is Saving Forgotten Lands
The Caatinga’s story isn’t one of survival in a dryland ecosystem – it’s a lesson of looking for the hidden patterns, finding alliances, and being patient. Well, and about fate of course. Because, if a forgotten biome can regrow from dust, what else might be possible?
EAT Lancet misses the point
A diet is the wrong entry point in the analysis of the food system and planetary health.
Do Forests Make It Rain?
If the theory of the biotic pump is correct—and the forests play an essential role in the water cycle—this gives urgent importance to saving our old growth forests and restoring those which have been demolished or degraded.
Chris Smaje’s Vision of a Post-Capitalist Eco-Localism that Works
Chris Smaje openly admits that there are too many contingent variables to predict the future; many scenarios are plausible. That said, Finding Lights in a Dark Age offers some thoughtful, erudite speculation about what a healthy, post-capitalist world might look like and the choices we may need to make.
My constituents are … leaving town
But while we’re all yelling at each other about how our favoured politics are the best, the more important political story might lie with constituents, including the urban poor, who are quietly innovating their own welfare, perhaps by leaving town.
Finding Lights in a Dark Age: Excerpt
What matters above all is that people get occupancy rights that give them the long-term residential security to address their livelihood needs, and it’s entirely possible that these will sometimes be obtained in urban or suburban situations.
Cider, crumble, and what roast pork loves
There are mass-produced ciders on the market, usually packed full of added sugar and additives, but we were only interested in the artisanal drink — made with love and care, a great deal of back-breaking work and no small amount of skill.
Breaking the industrial food system
The assumptions that sit behind this are that: consumption drives growth; that cheaper food is good for growth; that markets are the best way to provide cheaper food; that changing diets is not the job of government; and that food safety nets are not needed—or need only to be minimal.
