Cultivating sustainability – through the stomach to the heart

Local Geelong matters

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In The Sustainable Studio on 94.7 The Pulse, we’re always hungry for new knowledge about sustainability – and on 7 October 2015, we dedicated a full Sustainable Hour to the topic of food and drinks, because as it turns out, it appears to be a topic which opens up great new pathways to the understanding and appreciation of why we all need to behave more sustainable, environment-conscious and less carbon-emitting.

In September, Suzette Jackson hosted and spoke at the Geelong Sustainability September Forum alongside Lauren Purser of the Food System Alliance and Darren Aitken, biodynamic trainer, farm mentor and farmer, of Vortex Vegies. In our radio show today, we bring excerpts of their speeches, and we have Suzette Jackson with us in the studio, as well as Penny Whitehead from the up-coming Extravaganza Geelong Wine & Food Fair.


Listen to The Sustainable Hour no. 93:

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Guests in the studio:
Suzette Jackson, Innate Ecology
Penny Whitehead, Extravaganza Geelong Wine & Food Fair

Pre-recorded speeches:
Darren Aitken, Vortex Vegies Bio Dynamic
Lauren Purser, Bellarine Community Health



 LISTENER SERVICE 

Further listening

Full versions of the speeches we played in the 93rd Sustainable Hour – recorded at the Geelong Sustainability forum about food security, held at Beav’s Bar in September 2015



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Suzette Jackson’s speech

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Links to items and organisations which Suzette Jackson talks about in The Sustainable Hour:

» Diego Bonetto wild harvest food walks – food foraging:
www.diegobonetto.com

» Native foods for purchase – Outback Chef:
www.outbackchef.com.au

» Australian local food industry, ANFIL:
www.anfil.org.au

» Otway Agroforestry:
www.oan.org.au

» City of Greater Geelong Food Policy Discussion Paper:
www.geelongaustralia.com.au/foodindustry

» Geelong Food Hub Feasibility Study:
www.geelongaustralia.com.au/news

» Healthy Together Geelong – Eat well:
www.geelongaustralia.com.au/healthygeelong/eatwell




Darren Aitken’s speech

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Lauren Purser’s speech




 LISTENER SERVICE 

Quotes, excerpts and links

…in relation to the 93rd Sustainable Hour

Geelong CLO’ey Food Waste Compost Pilot Project

The Closed Loop team have had an overwhelming response to the Food Waste Compost trials, with unprecedented numbers of Geelong residents keen to participate in the pilot project. This clearly shows how eager Geelong residents are to embrace clean, sustainable technologies and represent their city in this trial.

The registrations have now officially closed. Closed Loop are currently working closely with Cleantech Innovations Geelong and Future-proofing Geelong to assess the applications and finalise the trial participants.

» To find out more about CLO’ey, the ‘Ultimate Composter’, see www.closedloop.com.au



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Resilient cities: Global imperative

The Municipality Association Victoria has now established a new conference this year in conjunction with the City of Melbourne and the 100Resilient Cities Program. It is called ‘Resilient Cities and Communities: The New Global Imperative’. Suzette Jackson has been invited to speak after lunch on Day Two.

There are some interesting speakers, such as Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation and author of ‘The Resilience Dividend: Being Strong in a World Where Things Go Wrong’. She will be talking about ‘Reinventing Our World’.

» The program is available from the website on www.mav.asn.au

Place: Arts Centre, St Kilda Road, Melbourne, 3000
RSVP: Monday 30 November 2015
Places available: 183
Conference – Non-Member: $660.00 (inc. GST)


‘Transformation 2015’
In The Sustainable Hour, Suzette Jackson mentioned that her colleague Laura is in Sweden currently to speak about cultural transformation towards socio-ecological systems and society at the ‘Transformation 2015’ conference, which is hosted by the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

» You can read more about this conference on www.stockholmresilience.org





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school-gardening

School gardening

“Gardening is an art form you get to love especially if you encounter it when you’re little. That’s what the school featured on this webpage does.

The Waldorf School of Cape Cod has started a gardening program for its pupils which should be the stuff of inspiration for everyone. The 24 x 48 feet hoop house is the central point of the whole thing. Here, the children, together with the grown-ups plant and harvest carrots, spinach, kale and other vegetables.

In the process, they all learn the benefits of growing your own greens and the process that it takes for a seed to become a full-grown piece of edible food! Check it out and maybe, if you are inspired by what you see, help kick start a similar project in your own community.”

» See more at: www.goodshomedesign.com

Share if You Think Every School Should Have a Year-Round Gardening Program!





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ReDane



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Farmers on front lines as climate change threatens food security

The Tree wrote:

Climate change represents a clear and growing threat to Australia’s food security, according to a new report from The Climate Council. Titled Feeding a hungry nation: climate change, food and farming in Australia, the report shows that rising temperatures and lower rainfall have already affected crop yields, and both yields and quality will continue to decrease as climate change drives more frequent and intense extreme weather events, such as bushfires and drought. As agricultural commodities are worth roughly $50 billion a year, and the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector employs 2.6 per cent of all Australians, the impact on Australia’s economy will likely be great – particularly if action to address climate change remains inadequate. The Climate Council warns that strong, urgent action to transition to a low carbon economy is needed, and if undertaken will – like more efficient use of water resources and protection of farmland from coal mining – help Australia secure its food supply while tapping into the vast co-benefits of climate action.


RELATED ACTIONS

KEY POINTS

  • Farmers are on the front lines of climate change, and their struggle impacts everyone. Changing rainfall patterns and water scarcity, heat stress and increased climatic variability in Australia’s productive agricultural regions are direct threats to dependent industries and local communities, but they impact all Australians when it comes to food prices, quality and availability. Everyone remembers banana prices increasing by 500 per cent for months after cyclone Larry destroyed 90 per cent of the North Queensland crop in 2006, but food prices during the 2005-2007 drought also increased at twice the rate of the Consumer Price Index, while the 2009 heatwave in Victoria decimated fruit crops, leading to higher prices. Heat stress in general reduces yields of important crops such as wheat and rice, while milk yields can dip by 10-25 per cent, and up to 40 per cent in extreme heatwave conditions.
  • Climate change threatens Australian jobs and the economy, and inadequate action now will severely increase costs later. Agricultural commodities are worth roughly $50 billion a year to the Australian economy, while the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector employs 2.6 per cent of all Australians. Increasingly frequent, unpredictable and extreme droughts, bushfires and cyclones have clear and measurable impacts on these commodities, and as their profitability decreases so too does their contribution to national accounts and employment levels.
  • Climate change isn’t going to wait for Australia. Reducing threats to Australian agriculture means taking urgent action to transition to a clean economy, and prioritising protection for farmland over fossil fuel projects. The Government wants Australia to become “the food bowl of Asia”, yet it continues to risk prime agricultural land for short-term coal and coal seam gas projects. The Climate Council notes that by 2061, Australia’s domestic demand for food could be 90 per cent above 2000 levels, with a similar increase in export demand. That will be difficult to meet if the current rate of climate change is maintained, and productive farmland is sacrificed for fossil fuel projects that speed and exacerbate climate impacts. Transitioning to a new, low carbon economy is critical to avoiding the most dangerous impacts, and the longer action is delayed, the worse the impacts on the environment, people, and the economy will be, and the more expensive action becomes.

RELATED COVERAGE

TOOLS AND RESOURCES

TOP VIDEO

Lord Deben: Climate change isn’t going to wait for Australia (ABC)

TOP IMAGES

Wheatfields 

(Glen Hodges)

Dairy cows 

(Brett and Sue Coulstock)

Aus mean temp rise 

(BoM)

KEY QUOTES

  • “Australia is one of the most vulnerable developed countries in the world to climate change impacts. This is already posing very significant challenges to food production. Food prices will continue to go up, the quality of food could be compromised and the seasonality of food could change as the climate continues to warm and weather patterns become more unpredictable. Many of our favourite foods, including milk, fruit, vegetables, wine and beef are already being affected by climate change and these impacts will grow as weather extremes get worse.” – The Climate Council’s Professor Lesley Hughes
  • “All animals struggle during heatwaves and dairy cows are particularly vulnerable. It’s not unusual for their milk production to drop overnight by up to 40 per cent. [I]f they continue to increase the only option for many dairy farmers will be to house their cows in air conditioned sheds. If this happens, milk may become a luxury item.” – Illawarra dairy farmer Lynne Strong
  • “Farmers can play a really important role in delivering climate change solutions through producing their own renewable energy and implementing sustainable farming systems that increase carbon storage in vegetation and soils. But we can’t fight climate change alone. We need to be backed by greater action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions if we’re to protect both the livelihood of farmers and the integrity of Australia’s food supply.” – Illawarra dairy farmer Lynne Strong
  • “We are watching the realities of a warming world unfold before our eyes and the impacts on everyday Australian households as food prices and food availability become more volatile and affect the economies and social fabric of those communities that rely on agricultural production. Australian farmers have demonstrated great resilience in the face of harsh physical and social challenges. But if the present rate of climate change continues, there will be many challenges to which adaptation is simply not possible. We must urgently transition to a new low carbon economy if we are to adequately safeguard our food supply.” – Professor Tim Flannery

RELATED TREE ALERTS

SUGGESTED TWEETS

 

USA: Global food companies unite on climate action

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s 114th climate speech: ‘Time to Wake Up: Global Food Companies Unite on Climate Action’

In this week’s “Time to Wake Up” speech, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse discusses the joint letter from ten corporate food industry leaders calling for Congressional action on climate change. He also challenges Republicans in Congress to come up with a solution in light of the recent polls that show a majority of Republican voters agree the climate is changing and that human activity contributes to it.

Published on youtube.com on 6 October 2015.





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Hours and hours of sustainable podcasts

Listen to all of The Sustainable Hour radio shows in full length and in selected excerpts:

» Archive on climatesafety.info – with photo and direct link to podcast audio file

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» Archive on cpod.org – with even longer descriptions

» Archive on itunes.apple.com – mobile phone friendly


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