A reminder of Growing Communities’ Australian School Gardens Network Gathering and the Learning in the Garden Seminar, happening in Brisbane on 13th, 14th & 15 July 2008. With less than 4 weeks to go, make sure your registration is in by the 6th July to secure a place both at the gathering and at the seminar. To download full program and registration form go to http://www.growingcommunities.org.au/litg2008.htm

Since we started promoting the idea of gathering the school gardens community together, we found that there are many people and organisations around Australia working in some capacity in or with school gardens. Many of these people don’t know of or have not heard of one another’s work. We have also found that there is a growing interest in school gardens by NGOs, government and private bodies manifested with, in some cases, increasing support for school gardens initiatives at local, state and federal levels.

As a result Growing Communities see it as crucial that those working in this field should come together to look at these issues. It is of great value to explore ways of working cooperatively and examine the important role that school gardens will have in addressing pressing environmental, health and food security issues affecting Australia today.

We hope to see as many of you coming to Brisbane in July.

Happy gardening.

Growing Communities
192 Boundary Street, West End, Qld 4101
i: www.growingcommunities.org.au

Growing Communities is a community based cooperative enterprise working to promote the establishment, development and on-going support of school gardens, community gardens and city farms in South East Queensland and beyond.

Please find below an interview about The GreenHouse project based in South Africa from Inhabitat.

URL: http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/06/14/the-greenhouse-project-sustainable-living-in-johannesburg/
The GreenHouse Project: Sustainable Living in Johannesburg
by Kate Andrews

In the heart of South African city Johannesburg, a green focused community is transforming one urban park into a seedbed for sustainable living. Directed by Dorah Lebelo, The GreenHouse Project takes a holistic approach to integrating green building and design, efficient and renewable energy, recycling and organic farming into the city’s mindset. The Global Oneness Project recently interviewed Dorah to find out her motivations and intentions for this fantastic sustainable initiative.

Copyright photo courtesy of The Global Oneness Project

Please find below some information about the “Australia 2020 Summit: Final Report” which was recently posted on Australian Policy Online . There is also a link to the full article below.

Australia 2020 Summit: Final Report, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Posted: 02-06-2008

“This report is intended to provide a record of the Australia 2020 Summit and recommendations on each of the discussion areas for consideration by the Australian government. It is based on ideas put forward by participants during the summit discussion sessions, outcomes from preliminary summit events and ideas generated from public submissions received prior to the summit.

The report includes an introductory section and ten chapters which can be viewed and/or downloaded separately.
> Read full text”

Please find below an abstract about the guerrilla gardeners of London below by Kate Kelland as listed on the Planet Ark World News, 1 May 2008.

“LONDON - They work under the cover of night, armed with seed bombs, chemical weapons and pitchforks. Their tactics are anarchistic, their attitude revolutionary. Their aim: to beautify.

An army of self-styled Guerrilla Gardeners is growing across the world, fighting to transform urban wastelands into horticultural havens. To document and encourage their victories, one of the movement’s top generals has written a handbook.
“On Guerrilla Gardening“, by Richard Reynolds, defines the activity as “the illicit cultivation of someone else’s land”.

“Our main enemies are neglect and scarcity of land,” said Reynolds, a 30-year-old former advertising employee who wrote the book after his website guerrillagardening.org became a global focal point for would-be green-fingered activists.

“Land is a finite resource — and yet areas like this are not being used. That seems crazy to me,” Reynolds told Reuters.”

To read the full story visit http://features.us.reuters.com/cover/news/L2921871.html.

Agriburbia™ is an innovative and growing design movement that integrates aspects of agrarianism with land development. Agriburbia™ includes characteristics of New Urbanism, modernism and historic preservation, and other environmentally sustainable principles of real estate development.

Agriburbia™ combines the positive social, cultural, physical and financial characteristics from both the urban and rural lifestyles to create an entirely new landuse concept. Agriburbia&trade integrates food production as an integral element in the community design, social network, and financial viability of the neighborhood.

To find out more about this project visit http://www.agriburbia.com/. Any comments – please add below.

The information below was sourced from Tara Garnett at the Food Climate Research Network, Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey, www.fcrn.org.uk. This is an excellent resource to receive updates on research and events on an international basis pertaining to sustainable food systems. To join the FCRN mailing list please email Tara at taragarnett @blueyonder.co.uk

Unilever and palm oil
Unilever has announced that it will only be using certified sustainable palm oil in its food and beauty products by 2015. It will start by using certified palm oil as it becomes available in the second half of 2008 and will look to have all the palm oil it uses in Europe fully traceable by 2012.
To read the press release go to:
http://www.unilever.co.uk/ourcompany/newsandmedia/pressreleases/2008/commitment-sustainable-palmoil.asp

You may remember that I recently circulated details of a report (mailing of 22/4/08) by Greenpeace which argued that Unilever’s suppliers are destroying peatland forests and orang-utan habitats to grow palm oil. Greenpeace are obviously very pleased with Unilever’s latest decision – see http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/forests/unilever-agrees-plans-for-palm-oil-moratorium-20080501

The information below was sourced from Tara Garnett at the Food Climate Research Network, Centre for Environmental Strategy University of Surrey, www.fcrn.org.uk. This is an excellent resource to receive updates on research and events on an international basis pertaining to sustainable food systems. To join the FCRN mailing list please email Tara at taragarnett @blueyonder.co.uk

Green supply chain conference - Presentations available
The Food and Drink Federation and the London Technology Network recently held an event entitled: Developing a Greener Supply Chain. There are presentations from Tate & Lyle, Cadbury, United Biscuits, University College London, WRAP and others, all of which can be downloaded here: https://www.fdf.org.uk/speeches_greener_supply_chain.aspx

RELU report - Land to mouth: Exploring the links between sustainable land use and the food we eat’
RELU is a £24 million interdisciplinary research programme into the challenges facing rural areas today, funded by the UK research councils, the Scottish Government and Defra. This report draws on the findings of seven food-chain related RELU projects to examine how a fresh look at land-use could facilitate the production of healthier and safer food. Four key questions are addressed; first, can the way we use land make our food healthier and safer? Secondly, can consumers help the environment? Thirdly, is a healthy and environmentally friendly diet compatible with innovation and sustainable business? Finally, how can policy-makers best respond to these links between sustainable land-use and food quality to deliver effective sustainable farming and food goals? You can download the report here (it’s briefing paper 8): http://www.relu.ac.uk/

Food Ethics Council newsletter
The May issue of the FEC’s newsletter is now available. This one looks at the air freighting of food; at food pricing; and also highlights a new ethics ‘toolkit’ that the FEC have produced. See here: http://www.foodethicscouncil.org/news/newsletter

The information collated below was discussed on Community Food Security email list and has since been collated and posted on the blog; http://gardenofeatingblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/seeds-of-change-groups-doing-good-work.html.

You can subscribe to the Community Food Security email list at: https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/comfood.

The report listed below was found on the Australian Policy Online newsletter and thought it might interest the Sustainable Cities Network audience. A link to the entire article is listed after the article.

Rising food prices: what should be done?
Joachim von Braun / International Food Policy Research Institute
Posted: 27-04-2008
The sharp increase in food prices over the past couple of years has raised serious concerns about the food and nutrition situation of poor people in developing countries, about inflation, and – in some countries – about civil unrest. Real prices are still below their mid-1970s peak, but they have reached their highest point since that time. Both developing- and developed-country governments have roles to play in bringing prices under control and in helping poor people cope with higher food bills.

In 2007 the food price index calculated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) rose by nearly 40 percent, compared with 9 percent the year before, and in the first months of 2008 prices again increased drastically. Nearly every agricultural commodity is part of this rising price trend. Since 2000 – a year of low prices – the wheat price in the international market has more than tripled and maize prices have more than doubled. The price of rice jumped to unprecedented levels in March 2008. Dairy products, meat, poultry, palm oil, and cassava have also experienced price hikes. When adjusted for inflation and the dollar’s decline (by reporting in euros, for example), food price increases are smaller but still dramatic, with often serious consequences for the purchasing power of the poor.

To read the full article visit: http://www.ifpri.org/themes/foodprices/foodprices.asp.

Holly Pearson has recently published an article about the highlights from the 7th EcoCity World Summit on WorldChanging.com and its well worth a read! Find an abstract of her post below followed by a link to the full text.

ABSTRACT:
Highlights from the 7th EcoCity World Summit
HOLLY PEARSON
APRIL 28, 2008 9:48 AM
“In order to transform our cities, we need to move from ego-culture to eco-culture.”
— Rusong Wang, President, Ecological Society of China

The EcoCity World Summit wrapped up on Saturday afternoon in San Francisco. An incredible assemblage of the world’s brightest minds that are working to build greener cities and towns gathered for three and a half days of presentations, discussions, city tours, arts & culture, and celebration. As an urban planner for whom the sustainable cities movement is not only a passion but also a raison d’etre, professionally speaking, I found the conference to be nothing short of mind-blowing.

A vast amount of information and ideas was exchanged, and after letting it all sink in for a day or so I’ve summarized what I thought were some of the most interesting concepts and initiatives presented at EcoCity.

The Big Picture for Saving the Planet: Sustainable Cities
Amazingly, somehow I have worked as a city planner in Oakland, California for almost a year without knowing that right here in my own neighborhood is one of the leading green city advocates in the country, if not the world: Richard Register. Dubbed “EcoCity Master” by his conference co-organizer, Rusong Wang of China, Register is the President of non-profit EcoCity Builders.

Looking critically at the environmental movement, Register asserts that humanity is “winning the battle but losing the war.” Despite lots of successes – stronger environmental legislation, recycling programs in most metropolitan areas in the U.S., and the like – ecological degradation continues and is, in fact, worsening. That’s because, says Register, we’re not paying attention to the big things. And the big things, first and foremost, have to do with the design and functioning of our cities. Urban population is on the rise the world over, and cities are by far the greatest sources of natural resource consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and other pollutants. For this reason, a sustainable global future cannot be achieved without re-thinking and redesigning cities to reduce their ecological impact.

To read the full article visit: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007996.html