Do you believe in climate change? No-one cares. Do I believe in climate change? It’s irrelevant. Everyone has an opinion on it but while we argue with each about whether its real or not we are very conveniently NOT talking about what we really need to be talking about: how do we live in this world now and what world are we leaving for future generations?

So let’s talk about the following instead.

How do we manage our landscapes so that when rain falls it sinks into the soil and is stored there? (instead of running off into rivers and eventually the ocean causing flooding and associated destruction on its way plus drought conditions between rainfall events)

What do we need to do to hydrate and cool down our country so that uncontrollable widespread bushfires can’t take hold? (because back burning or lack of it is not the real issue here)

How do we use our limited resources in a circular way? (rather than a use once then dump way)

How do we make it more convenient and easier to do the above? (instead of it being easier to just throw it away)

How do we clean up, and keep clean, our oceans and contaminated land areas?

How do we encourage and enhance life? (rather than poisoning it)

What do we need to do so that the land we leave to our children is sustainably more productive than it is now? (rather than land that needs increasing amounts of expensive inputs to achieve the same levels of production)

How do we produce food worthy of eating? (instead of food that looks perfect and has a long shelf life but that lacks flavour and nutrition)

How do we ensure that everyone has access to food and a food culture that nourishes? (rather than mind boggling food waste and a cultural disconnect from where food comes from)

How do we want the world to look 50 years from now, 100 years, 500 years? How do you want your impact on the planet to be remembered?

It’s the consideration of the above questions that will reduce the impact of drought, flood and fire. It’s the consideration of the above questions that will improve our quality of life and reduce the cost of living.

Of course action at the highest level will facilitate change but if you think it’s up to the government or the big players to mandate and action changes then you are unwittingly asking for a world that is controlled by a corporate few. And when the motivation is an election win or the generation of profit for shareholders (both of which only require short term thinking) how can meaningful action possibly occur anyway?

All we can do is the best we can do until our best gets better. So, right now maybe the thing to do is look for examples of people, communities, businesses etc doing things well and copy them. Over our next few blog posts we are going to do just that. Examine some of these questions in more detail and look for action we can take to make our best better.

But right now what can we do? The potential for enormous positive environmental, social and physical impact all comes back to one thing.

KNOW WHERE YOUR FOOD COMES FROM

When you choose not to think about how the food you are buying was produced you are in effect saying you don’t care how it was produced and so you are encouraging production methods that might bring you cheap, plentiful food but at the cost of animal welfare, environmental health, farming viability and long term human health. The cost is still there – you’re just letting someone else pay your bill.

Maybe you’ve got a limited budget and heaps of mouths to feed so you feel like you have no option but to buy the cheapest available but hear this:
Eating food grown and produced to high environmental and welfare standards tastes. so. good. It’s density of nutrition fills you up more so you are satisfied sooner. So it might seem more expensive but actually it costs you less in the long term, you’ll enjoy eating more, you’ll be healthier and you’ll be encouraging the growing of food for flavour not yield. And flavour comes the slow way, from healthy soil. When nurturing soil and soil life is the goal we encourage management choices that are very different to choices when yield is the goal.

One of the wonderful things about living where I live is that I know the people who have grown most of the food that I eat. So I get to take for granted the flavour and freshness that comes from food that hasn’t been mass produced or kept in cold storage. When you only eat packaged food with its manufactured flavours and/or ‘fresh’ produce from the supermarket then of course you will forget what good food tastes like. You’ll think that food is normal. If you could just taste a fresh organic newly dug potato with real creamy, salty butter and fresh herbs from the garden you would experience true food satisfaction – and it’s not even expensive.

If you are buying food directly from the person who grew it, looking them in the eye and giving them feedback week in and week out – those people are going to do their darndest to produce food for you that you want to eat. They want to hear how much you enjoyed the broccoli, beans, beef, bread. They want to share with you that the carrots this week are amazing that you should try that unfamiliar okra because it’s tastes great when cooked right (they’ll give you a recipe) and it’s cheap as chips.

We’re not reinventing the wheel

This seems like a massive jump to us but I remember travelling through France in my early 20’s (20 + years ago) and even in the middle of Paris there were farmers markets. Dotted all over the place selling fruit & veg, cheese, fish & meats plus ready to eat meals like pies and pastries. Farmers would sell their produce direct to city consumers, city consumers would shop daily for their fresh produce. It was wonderful. The banter, the aromas, the taste tests and all that food passion. That’s the French normal. There was no need for regulation and compliance and the associated cost they force into food – if the farmers produced rubbish food that wasn’t safe no one bought it. If those farmers couldn’t have answered questions about how they produced that food, customers would go to the farmer that could. These farmers were from small farms, family farms, farming was in their blood. They know their customers and their customers know them. There is some real power right there at a micro level and that’s terrible for the supermarkets.

What are you voting for?

When you choose to buy your food from the supermarket rather that farmers, farmers markets or smaller retailers who do buy direct from farms you are voting for big business – and killing small business and diversity. And, when you vote for big business you are casting another vote for a world that will ultimately be controlled by a powerful few providing limited and homogeneous choices for an increased cost and with decreased integrity. The wonderful choices, convenience and bargain prices that the superstores offer us now, exist to get rid of competition. Once the competition is gone then there’s no need to keep prices low or quality and choices high. You really do vote with your dollar. Where your dollar goes will be where the energy and investment goes. Innovation or development in easier and cleverer ways to access food without supermarkets will only be encouraged if you start shopping outside of supermarkets.

So can a simple focus on knowing who’s producing your food and how they produce it really make a difference? Yes it can. Tiny changes by you creates ripples as the market learns what’s important to its consumers. Those ripples become waves and then tsunamis as quick to react small businesses find opportunities to connect with consumers rather than to control them. And with the realisation that we are an integral part of our food system we reclaim our food system. When we reclaim our food systems we reclaim our economic systems and when that happens it prevents the actions of a few from determining the long term security and wellbeing of us all.

by Amber Scott