Sampling Culture http://samplingculture.posterous.com Most recent posts at Sampling Culture posterous.com Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:14:00 -0700 Where's your food from? http://samplingculture.posterous.com/2010/08/30/location-location-wheres-your-food-from http://samplingculture.posterous.com/2010/08/30/location-location-wheres-your-food-from

It was a cloudy summer sunday in August at the first annual Conscious Food Festival. The festival was nestled in between the low buildings at Fort York and there was a picturesque backdrop of the city's downtown in the distance. With an advisory committee of over 10 names, the festival's manifesto urged people to take the dialogue about food sustainability to the next level, and it stated that the small actions people take add up.

The festival's goal was to educate attendees about food that is local and natural and which is produced in a way that does not harm the environment. Companies were selected by the committee because they were deemed socially responsible or have incorporated recycling and reuse into their production. Josh Bowman, is a development associate who works at Second Harvest. He was seated at the Second Harvest table at the festival. His organization feeds 15,000 meals a day to hungry people in Toronto by picking up and preparing excess food and delivering it to more than 200 social service agencies. Catering companies, restaurants and grocery stores make donations. As Second Harvest's pamphlet proclaims, they're helping to solve two of Toronto's toughest problems: hunger and food waste. Over at Ravine Vineyard's table, Alex R. Harber was selling wine. His family owns the estate winery, and he is one of the vendors who is making an effort to make his product in an environmentally sustainable manner. How? - “We're in our second year of getting our biodynamic certification,” he said. “We're mixing the science of horticulture with the rhythms of the earth. So we're becoming stewards of the land and we're making less impact than standard horticulture,” he explained. In addition to producing wines that are 100 per cent organic, the vineyard is also in the Niagara region and by remaining in the family for generations to come, the family hopes to “fight the good fight against the residential urbanization of farm lands in Niagara,” he said. At the Grindhouse BBQ stand savoury organic pulled pork sandwiches on a bun with arugula and goat cheese were being sold for a mere two dollars. In addition to many cheeses, wines and ice cream that were on some tables for people to try, the politics of food were also made apparent. In order to encourage consumers to buy locally produced products and fresh produce instead of American or foreign produce, Local Food Plus was on site. Chris Trussell, a marketing and development representative from the organization explained that they lobby to get certified local and sustainable foods from farmers into large institutions. The University of Toronto is one of their most successful institutional partners who are in their fifth year of their pledge to shift ten per cent of their spending dollars to local sustainable produce. They've now well surpassed their goal. Meanwhile, Local Food Plus has their own campaign (at buytovote.ca) directed at individual consumers. They are asking for pledges to shift ten dollars a week to buy Certified Local Sustainable food. The idea is that consumers vote with their dollars. Mayoral candidate Joe Pantalone was also at the festival. When asked about his approach to sustainability at a city level and what he plans to do, he launched into his credentials on the environment. “I was the chair of the environmental roundtable from 2003 to 2006. I led the city to get the Green Roofs bylaw and the Green Toronto Building Standards,” he said. “We have to provide the (food) systems so that families and companies can plug into them. In a few days I'll release my official food policy. I want to emphasize more local food production. I have an idea for harvesting fruit trees to provide food to community groups.” Like the festival's official literature, Pantalone is enthusiastic about the Conscious Food Festival. “It can change our orientation to food and enrich our lives,” he said. “We can eat better, tasty food, local food, and environmental food,” he said. Indeed, many participants did eat at the festival and some may have even learned about the food they were eating too. At least one caterer said he would give his left-over fresh foods to Second Harvest that day. While the festival was not very busy late in the day on Sunday, Second Harvest's Josh Bowman said, “The festival is presumably going to grow.” The Conscious Food Festival has the potential to provide a learning opportunity to participants. The festival started the process by showing that the ethics of food are as much about individual consumption as they are about government policies that guide food production. Although the festival did a good job of providing individual consumer education it seemed devoid of educational material about the global issues surrounding unjust food distribution. Perhaps in the future, local and global alliances can be built around the awarenesses that are created at this festival. Here's to hoping.

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Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:31:18 -0700 Eco-frugal in Toronto http://samplingculture.posterous.com/2010/03/17/eco-frugal-in-toronto http://samplingculture.posterous.com/2010/03/17/eco-frugal-in-toronto TORONTO - April 2009 Networked Streets
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Reusing, refashioning and building community As both social entrepreneurs and activists try to save their money, conserve natural resources and build community, eco-frugality appears to be thriving. Amanda Sissons unpacks boxes of fabric, buttons and unused colored paper for the craft swap happening at her store. She says she has a good feeling about how many people will show up that cold winter day at Freedom Clothing Collective. Established in 2006, Freedom Clothing is a cooperatively owned and operated store by Sissons and three of her friends. About an hour after she has been unpacking supplies, 15 people fill the small store on Bloor Street West in Toronto. By 8pm that evening, at least another 40 people have passed through to exchange their unwanted materials.
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Sissons explains, “Now that people can't afford expensive items they are looking for new ways to re-do their old clothing.” According to Sissons, the craft swap encourages people to get together to swap items they are not using. It’s also a good place for people to share crafting tips. She says, “It's recycling.” Freedom Clothing represents one sub-section of a larger group of people involved in the unofficial ‘eco-frugal’ movement in Toronto. In an eco-frugal approach, reducing waste, remodeling and reusing old things becomes en vogue during financially uncertain times. Since the economic turmoil swept North America, eco-frugality that combines both ecological and fiscal responsibility has retained followers. Eco-fashion stores like Freedom Clothing, non-governmental organizations such as GlobalAware, dumpster-diving groups like Food Not Bombs (who collect unwanted food and then cook for the hungry) and freecyclers like the Really Really Free Market (who swap unwanted items), continue to persist in their efforts. When times are tough, these groups are building community by sharing and reusing what they have. Their commitment to living an environmentally-friendly, socially sustainable and frugal lifestyle appears stronger than ever. North American Green consumerism is strong Trendwatching.com's March 2009 brief professed that during the recession consumers still want to move away from non-sustainable products to those that aren't contributing to a large ecological footprint. According to the GfK Roper Green Gauge study, "Americans are taking notice of the dual benefits of making simple eco-friendly changes that help both the planet and their wallets.” They found “More Americans are discussing recycling (86%), conserving energy (79%) and conserving water (76%); - - all simple ways to save money.” In Canada, the City of Toronto launched its Live Green Community Investment Program last year. They award grants of $25,000 to community groups who undertake action on sustainable energy use. In Toronto, the persistent popularity of and curiosity about community gardening and all-things-environmental is evident in the March ‘Ecoholic’ issue of NOW Magazine. Across income levels and diverse lifestyles the buzz about being Green and sustainable has not lessened. In fact, more people may be making cost-effective decisions and lessening their ecological footprint at the same time. Grassroots Green Contrary to the Green-washing of mainstream products by major retailers, in grassroots circles, a skeptical attitude toward corporate mechanisms persists. This is true, especially now, in reaction to the recent North American financial collapse. Bryn Roshong, an activist and labour union organizer said, “I hope that people see job losses and companies failing, and relate it to their own consumption and connect that there needs to be a holistic change in the way we relate to the planet.”
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Roshong, Wes Hannah, Ben Hackman and others in Toronto are participating in Food Not Bombs. Almost every weekend they collect unwanted food from vendors at St. Lawrence Market and grocery stores before closing time. Then they cook the food for homeless and hungry people on Sunday afternoons. Instead of the unwanted food going into the garbage, the edible food gets rescued and served to around 50 people in Allen Gardens. Roshong explained, “A lot of food comes from California or Chile and is grown with pesticides, and shipped here. So much energy goes into producing our food, and then sometimes perfectly good vegetables get thrown away because no one buys them. There’s so much food wasted and so many people go hungry in this city. I see it as completely backwards.” Community efforts Roshong and the ‘Really Really Free Market’ collective put on the ‘free store’ events. People attending donate and take away items without the exchange of money. People bring clothes, toys, books, electronics, and kitchen utensils to the store. Their last ‘free store’ event in March was held at the Toronto Free Gallery, and they estimated that up to 800 people visited. The event drew people from a broad cross-section. They put advertisements in Now magazine, on Craigslist, and put up posters around the city. There were kids and people of all ages searching for something they might like to take home. Passersby also came in, unaware what the event was about, but learning once inside. Roshong and Hannah said it was a great way to build community. For them, the recycling aspect is important. Roshong said, “There’s no reason why we can’t reclaim things…We are going to become a larger community space for people to have an alternate means of sharing and getting what they need.” While unique to Toronto, free store events are happening regularly all over the world – in the Netherlands and in cities like Vancouver. According to Roshong's pamphlet, free stores are “responsible to the environment, community, and the planet.” Hannah said their event is an example of eco-frugality, which is “not just dependent on a depressed market.” He said, “It’s brought out in times like these, but people see it is sustainable, even if they have a high paying job and job security.”
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In Kensington Market at GlobalAware, executive director Clive Shirley had similar things to say about how his organization is eco-frugal. He said they print their postcards on tree-free paper, they recycle old books by making them into new notebooks and they stock fair trade clothes. “I think people can save money by investing in products that are made well that will last for life. Rather than going to Walmart and buying a cheaply made knife that will last one year, and then going back again each year for twenty years, people should buy one knife that will last,” said Shirley. Dr. Leslie Jermyn, an anthropology and environmental studies instructor at the University of Toronto, said that as people are budgeting, environmental solutions fit into their thinking. Jermyn explained being eco-frugal means, “making choices to reduce energy usage, excess and waste.” Community initiatives like these show us that through reclaiming old things and turning them into new treasures, eco-frugality is alive and well. As times get tough, it makes sense that eco-frugality and community-building are on an up-surge and they are only getting stronger. It will be interesting to see whether private and public funding will be channeled into official government, industry, and smaller community projects too.
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