Time: 51 min 24 s
Dr. Wayne Roberts spoke on food policy and a new vision for cities at Toledo Library in the US. As always his witty humour is always a hit. The photos he uses in the presentation are also quite insightful. Dr. Roberts also proposes hopeful solutions and answers to fixing cities and the food system. If you want the quick written summary you can read it below.
Knowledge Stream: “He has worked to demonstrate that what is good for the environment is also good for jobs and ordinary people. ‘It’s a vision that integrates economic, social and environmental well-being,’ he says.
Roberts is author of seven books (most recently the No Nonsense Guide to World Food) and the director of the Toronto Food Policy Council. Roberts also founded the Coalition for a Green Economy.
Dr. Wayne Roberts manages the Toronto Food Policy Council (TFPC), a citizen body of 30 food activists and experts that is widely recognized for its innovative approach to food security.
“
FOOD IS EVERY PART OF LIFE
(The elephant whirlwind in Detroit)
- Food is the biggest source of a lot of good and bad things in the world – including jobs, climate change and more. It’s the elephant in the room.
- Toronto wastes 4 billion plastic bags a year.
- 33% of waste is food.
- The average molecule of food has traveled over 2000 km from farm to your house.
- City of Toronto spends $100 million on road repair. Having more neighbourhood stores and local food would save 20% of $100 million
- The cost of traffic jams is at least $1 billion per year. That’s because people get to wait in the jams as they’re trying to get to work.
- If you add 1.5 cents/lb to the price of tomatoes you would increase well being by 60% or 60% increase in standards of living. Same for fair trade coffee and chocolate for 25 million workers worldwide. And you barely notice the difference.
We need to think of food as a system. It’s connected to everything in our lives.
- Rediscover the power of people through food. Food is something that people under 30 find can really empower them.
“The glass is half full.” A pessimist would say it’s the wrong half. A planner would say the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
CHANGE IS STEADY
Buycott: You choose to buy good stuff not just skip the bad stuff (boycott).
- Food is bringing people who don’t know each other together to accomplish great things.
- University of Toronto buys local sustainable. By doing so they appreciate their food so much that they don’t waste it which makes up for the cost of buying local sustainable. Crazy simple eh?
- Universities and colleges are the 27th biggest buyer of food in North America.
- Change steadily: start low and build up changes from 10% local to 15, then 20, then 25.
BONDING AND BRIDGING
- Bonding Capital: Food helps people really relate to each other.
- Bridging Capital: Bringing people from different classes and cultures together.
(Toronto’s first community garden)
- If your neighbourhood has a farmers market or a garden, an area will always be beautiful.
- To solve the problem of peace and war you have to solve the problem of food.
- We need to cooperate to make changes. And change will have “a lot of drafts.” As Roberts would say, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”
- Food is a way to bridge the divide between rural and the city.
- You can’t solve one side of the rubics cube, you have to solve all 6 sides. That’s the same problem with food policy.
(Mike’s cat)
- Public health perfectly hits the wrong target.
- Food has to being seen as having 10s of thousands of applications.
- Food activists have to be the “catalysts” and drivers of change.
FOOD IS RICH IN JOBS
- Food retail and transportation is a huge part of the food system and often ignored.
- Jamie Oliver: Working hard is a sign of success not a failure.
- Food can teach people the key social and job skills for anything.
- Food can bring back artisans — people who are passionate about what they do, their art.
- Small businesses might look like they’re in conflict except they have more in common than they think. With food that’s definitely the case. There are opportunities for small niches everywhere.
- You want a creative economy? Have more food jobs (i.e. restaurants, bars, etc.) — students need those jobs in between school years. In fact people who work the movie industry work in the food industry too!
(Solomon Boye at the City of Toronto teaches youth how to grow food and maybe even help them work for the City if they’re keen)
PUTTING IDLE SPACE TO GOOD USE
- Farmers markets are places to build relationships and communities.
(Farmers markets of ancient Egypt were places for news and build relations.)
- Even contaminated and polluted land can be put to good use — grow food in a greenhouse until it is cleaned up.
(Greenhouses can be used on brownfields until they are developed.)
- A baking oven can create community by bringing more activities like markets and gardens into place. For Toronto, that’s Dufferin Grove (voted the best park in North America).
FOOD BRINGS TRAFFIC
- Food helps to increase public transit use.
- Food helps to increase more green space and green roofs. In Toronto, they made it a requirement to have most buildings have a green roof.
- If 1/6th of your city has green space then it’s the same as turning all of your cars from gas to electric.
- The savings from stormwater runoff is so huge and food is for free.
FOOD IS THE FINALE
- Whether you’re rich or poor, food is something anyone can enjoy.
- Food brings people and family together.
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
It is time to think about fundraising so that we can have more community gardens, CSAs and learning/training opportunities people of all ages who want to learn how to grow healthy food in a healthy way. So let’s see if we can have some brainstorming sessions that will result in some fundraising programs and events so when spring comes we can get to work in our gardens. Please contact me at: newappleb@rogers.com