Sometimes I have to confess the thought does cross my mind that perhaps people who read my posts think I am a bit of a dreamer, worse still a Pollyanna in Sodom and Gomorrah. At various times over the past few years I have posted on the local attempts I am involved with to make our local 'inner city' park edible.
Although it is in a town not a city it is urban green space in a generally economically and socially deprived area and I want people to eat what it produces as much as possible.
I have been known to witter on about these sorts of topics, local food networks, free food and all that amid my otherwise thoroughly depressing analysis of the contemporary scene and the direness of this historical epoch.
Either way I realise I run the risk of being deemed either over pessimistic or over optimistic, because by and large this view of incredible changes in the socio-economic transition goes unreported in the mainstream media. Actually to be more specific it goes generally unreported in the corporate, national/internationional infotainment television news industry and the national press. It is actually increasingly reported in local media and the profile of the transition movement is increasing even in the mainstream media, but its perceived lack of sex appeal and scandal keeps it out of the tabloids and off popular tv.
Earlier this year I posted a blog about the Bristol Pound, Britain's first local currency to be rolled out across a large city. Pre-existing local currencies are associated in UK generally with small southern England market towns like Totnes in Devon and the bigger but still moderate sized Lewes in Sussex which first introduced its own currency in 1789, which was discontinued in 1895 along with a number of other local currencies.
Its reintroduction in September 2008 did achieve national media coverage it must be said.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewes_Pound
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewes_Pound
FACTOID What I think is also rather interesting about Lewes was that in February 1768 a new excise officer was appointed to the town, his name was Thomas Paine.
It was in Lewes that Tom Paine first entered local politics and later led a revolt by excise officers demanding better pay and conditions. The proclaimed cradle of American independence was the White Hart Hotel, Lewes, East Sussex, south east England where a plaque at the inn celebrates that fact to this day.
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| Plaque at the White Hart Hotel, Lewes from wikipedia |
But I seriously digress here, this post is not about small towns it is about one of the biggest cities in the world. It isn't about history either it about the here and now and the future. It is about transitional thinking it is about a cultural revolution that is unfolding globally exponentially ...this is a local example of a transnational phenomenon. It is deliciously paradoxical that the doctrine of the end of growth is growing vigourously in expanding pockets all around the globe.
Here is an account of pioneering work in edible bus stop making in the capital.
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autumn in t he park |
LOl.............I'm having a problem getting past the image of you as a 'pollyanna' figure.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry..............I'll read on and get back to you.
LOL - Sniff :-(
DeleteThis leads me to several separate lines of thought.
ReplyDeleteFirst; growing food, yes you know I like to grow food, I'm quite uneasy at the thought of children not knowing where there food comes from. They seem to think it comes from the supermarket, pre-washed and wrapped in plastic. Even more worrying, is the way so many children don't understand the nourishment of food. I suppose children have always avoided cabbage as if it were poison but now they seem to avoid any thing that grows in favour of processed, manufactured, coloured and flavoured chemicals. It’s a disturbing trend that I try to remedy as often as possible. Last week I took the grandchildren to pick apples from waste ground and then help me make apple and blackcurrant jam. (blackcurrants frozen straight from my garden) Admittedly jam isn't the most nutritious of food but at least they can connect picking the fruit with making and eating the jam. And I thoroughly approve of the bus stop idea, lets hope it catches on in other parts of the country.
Second; and in response to your ‘thoroughly depressing analysis of the contemporary scene’, I can’t help but agree. What’s not to be depressed about? A simple walk down the high street is the stuff of nightmares. We have ‘Bright Homes’ selling over sized, over priced and completely unnecessary goods with an APR of 70%, to the poorest of the poor who get trapped into buying more and more. . Then we have shops offering to buy your ‘unwanted gold’, (a euphemism for treasured rings) for a pittance and sell you a payday loan with an APR that’s immoral and should also be illegal. And even they seem conservative compared to the payday loans found on the internet with APR in excess of 5000%. Yes Aaron………….your analysis IS depressing, but it’s a pretty accurate reflection of what’s actually going on out there.
And lastly; you talk about Transitional thinking’ and maybe you are right. Maybe more people are waking up to what’s going on. My own daughter, who I despair of ever understanding why I get so het up about things came to me last week and said she wanted to leave Asda. I never understood why she worked there in the first place but she has always been happy to participate in and promote the consumer society. Until now, and suddenly, after working there for a few years she has decided that they are ( in her words) not nice people. This is because they put hundreds of pounds worth of goods into the crusher every day. She told me how they put crate loads of good quality new bedding into the crusher rather than give it away because it has slightly faulty packaging, how they put hundreds of pounds worth of edible food into the crusher rather than give it to a hostel or the homeless, they put new childrens clothes into the crusher because the hangers were broken, and so the list went on. It was like an epiphany for her. And at the end of her little rant she burst into tears and said they even put flowers into the crusher because they weren’t fresh and they wouldn’t even let her stand outside the shop and give them away to make someone happy. And this is the girl who loves shop work and loves shopping. So yes………….maybe I’ve witnessed some ‘transitional thinking’
Thanks Aaron, your blogs are always food for thought. :-)
Hi Loretta, of course I know that your growing and preserving skills are legendary and you would be a great asset to any community food project. As you say children and perhaps older people too have either never learned or perhaps they have forgotten where food comes from. The purpose of initiatives like Incredible Edible the Edible Bus Stop or Project Dirt is not only to provide free nutritious food but also to address the alienation that has made us passive consumers of food, if indeed we can afford to eat at all. The growing numbers of people using food banks in the UK demonstrates the massive pauperisation that the current attack on the people has caused in this country. The government and the bankers are the enemies of the people and the free food movement is a form of resistance to their attack on our way of life, a from of resistance. Free food is political with a small 'p' it galvanises the community into collective action and collectivises the solutions to food poverty. It has I think the opposite effect to the morale sapping parasites, the loan sharks and the 'gold' thieves that exploit people's despair and profit from their hardships and misery. Free food lifts communities out of the collective depression the bankers and politicians have foisted upon us as they get richer and ever more greedy and demanding. When we feed people we not only feed their bodies but also their hearts and minds, we loosen their bonds with the oppressors and make them less dependent on the debt machine that feeds the gluttons and criminals that are the British 'establishment'...freeing food from the corporate monsters is a revolutionary act that not only sows the necessities of life but also the germs of resistance that will overthrow the existing order by ignoring it. 'Dual Power' the non-violent strategy of achieving a libertarian socialist economy and polity by means of incrementally establishing and then networking institutions of direct participatory democracy to contest the existing power structures of state-capitalism has its origins in the ideas of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the French thinker some have called the "father of anarchism".
DeleteI am glad your daughter wants to leave Asda Loretta, I have boycotted Asda (the British name of WalMart) for years now, I have publically campaigned against attempts to ope new supermarkets around here and the company is always in my sights as a major corporate enemy of the British way of life. I hope she can find something that suits her better, I wish her all the luck in the world we that, the wanton waste you describe is an ecocrime in itself and an affront to the poor and disadvantaged. The 'crusher' is a potent symbol of the folly of overproduction, over packaging and corporate irresponsibility...I look forward to the day when we finally put Asda in the crusher along with its rivals in the consumer profit/debt cycle of abuse and corporate exploitation.
Transitional thinking is the only way forward but I don't have to tell you that Loretta, you're already well ahead on that one.....thanks for your comments they atre much appreciated.
I think this is a great idea. I wish you the best in your continued efforts AA.
ReplyDeleteHere in this authoritarian hell hole, where Monsanto is GOD.. efforts such as these would likely lead to fines, or jail.. land of the free, ya know?
Thanks for your comments Scott. I undertsand the points you are making about the US and about corporate enemies of life like Monsanto. We have abolished the use of their deadly herbicide 'Roundup' in our park, that is why we have to weed it by hand nowadays, but that is a small price to pay to be rid of Glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) from our green space.
DeleteThe situation in North America is perhaps not quite as dire as you suggest here though Scott. The Transition movement is spreading there and there are also a number of important free food and organic developments in the US.
http://www.transitionus.org/
There is a far from exhaustive list of Transition initiatives here ->
http://sca21.wikia.com/wiki/Transition_towns_USA
Thanks again for visiting and leaving your encouraging comments Scott :-)
I don't think the situation could be much more dire AA, but whatever good can come from something like this, I hope it does. Perhaps you're not aware of the raids and jail sentences?? The FDA is corrupt from top to bottom. I know there are people fighting a good fight, cause they're doing it right here in my township.. but it won't last with the way things are. The FEDS will put a stop to it, wait and see...
DeleteI take your warnings very seriously Scott, this is a revolution after all, nothing is safe, nothing guaranteed ... but resistance is absolutely essential, of that I have no doubt whatsoever.
DeleteI have been eating wild flowers since the '70's and now grow my own edible flowers. A special treat is wild asparagus. One must be careful to not eat things that grow too near roads which spew poisonous exhaust onto the plants and into the soil. But the edible bus stop idea is a wonderful one although I cannot see the video.
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked, all our schools had gardens for the children to plant; many came on their own during summer holidays. They were so surprised at how much better fresh peas taste or fresh tomatoes, unlike the horrid things that come out of a can that are soggy or picked green.
Thanks for your comment Benni. There are some of us and you are obviously one of them that have been promoting sustainable living for a very long time now. There is an increasing interest in foraging here as well as edible green space projects. I'm sorry you can't see the video as you will have guessed no doubt, it is about creating edible bus stops in central London. We have four local schools that help us with projects in 3 parks in the area, some of our park has been planted by classes of 8 year olds with their teachers, they planted our 'chutney hedge' for example and in return we gave their school 'gardening club' a lot of 'disposable' pots which they are very happy to re-use. Thanks again for your comments, if we are what we eat that makes you a flower I think, which is in my view a very nice thing to be :-)
ReplyDeleteFirst off, it's always a surprise for me to be reminded that Tom "Common Sense" Paine was born, raised and by all rights an Englishman. One thinks of him as a maverick on the political landscape of the young American Republic. What a wonderful little tribute the by the people of Lewes or the White Heart Hotel gave to this man who truly spoke and wrote and fought for what he believed in.
ReplyDeleteI find myself in such agreement with you and Loretta and so many others about the issue of greater localism, and experiments in local currency and projects to garden and farm urban centers that I have little else to offer on that score other than I appreciate hearing the good news and liken it to efforts in places like Berkeley and Oakland California where such projects come together, and to my own current hometown, Ashland Oregon, which has a strong "local produce" movement trough a "farmers market" near downtown every Saturday and a local co-op food store miles removed from the strangling tentacles of Wal-Mart leviathans to the north of my community in Medford and Grants Pass. Anything anybody can do to recycles, buy local quality goods and revitalize urban blights like the video showed about a part London is all good in my book. Thanks again AA. Sorry i couldn't find something to gripe about here--it could be I'm the one turning into a "pollyanna" in my late middle age. :-)