Friends of the Earth Adelaide

This weekend is the final screening for Feast of Film 2010, featuring the world premiere of Friends of the Earth Adelaide’s new documentary An Urban Orchard, a celebration of community-based food gardening and exchange on the Adelaide Plains. An Urban Orchard will screen with the multi-award winning film The Garden, the Oscar-nominated documentary on the struggle of Latino and African-American farmers to preserve their urban gardens in South-central LA, and some surprise shorts!

WHEN: 4.00pm-7.00pm, Saturday 28 August 2010
WHERE: Unley Citizens’ Centre, 18 Arthur Street, Unley
COST: $5-$15

Winter warming goodies will be available. All funds raised support work for just and sustainable food and farming in South Australia. Feast of Film 2010 is presented by Friends of the Earth and supported by the City of Unley.

Click here for more information, and the full program.

The Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA), of which Friends of the Earth is a signatory, has just released its first media release, calling on all political parties to take a democratic approach in the formulation of national food policy, and not simply consult with the largest corporate and agribusiness interests.

A letter to politicians, with over 80 signatories has been sent to the Labor Party, Liberals and Greens. The text of a press release is below, and the full text of the letter with signatories can be viewed online at http://foodsovereigntyalliance.org, as can a pdf version of the media release – please feel free to distribute.

You can add your organisation as a signatory by emailing info@foodsovereigntyalliance.org.

AUSTRALIA NEEDS A DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL FOOD POLICY

An alliance of small businesses, family farmers, social enterprises, community organisations, and individuals working in food related areas has called upon Australia’s political parties to include them in the development of the proposed national policy on food.

The proposed policy was recently announced by federal Minister for Agriculture,Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Burke MP. The idea of a national policy on Australia’s food has been prompted and supported by major food corporations and agribusiness.

“With food and agriculture fundamental to the well-being of every Australian, smaller organisations, businesses and individuals should have a say in how policy is made in this vital area”, said Robert Pekin, co-founder of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA).

In a letter sent today to Tony Burke MP, the Opposition and the Greens, the AFSA calls for a participatory, inclusive process to formulate a national food policy. Inthe few days since it was circulated, the letter has received more than 80 group and individual signatories, including leading community food initiatives, social enterprises, family farmers and academics from across the country.

With the coldest Adelaide winter in years, now is the time to get quilting. Friends of the Earth is making a quilt to illustrate and celebrate the many visions of a just and sustainable food system, and we would love your contribution!

Like a landscape that feeds its community from a patchwork of farms and wild places, the quilt highlights the diversity of ideas, strategies and projects that make up a sustainable food system, and when completed will be exhibited, used to teach about the food system we need, and may even be entered in the Royal Adelaide Show!

Wherever you are, we invite you to embroider, print, patch, appliqué, sew, stitch your vision for a just and sustainable food system. It might be:

• something specific (like worm farms, or compost bins, or fruit trees planted in the streets, or rooftop gardens, or farmers’ markets, or heirloom seeds)


• or general (like stronger communities, or thriving local economies, or diverse polycultural farms, or food sovereignty, or fair trade)


• or a project you’re already involved with (your community garden, or backyard-sharing, or local fruit and veg exchange or co-op).

Squares should be 30cm x 30 cm, with a 3 cm border all the way around (so the area for your image is 24×24 cm). Feel free to use your own fabric, or contact us if you would like to be sent fabric to get you started.

Submissions are due Friday 20 January 2011, but sooner is always welcome. Please contact us at sophie.green@foe.org.au, or leave a message at (08) 8211 6872 to register your interest.

On Wed 7 July at 11am an enthusiastic and colorful group of over a hundred embarked on the Nuclear Scumbags Tour, a walking tour to the offices of nuclear offenders around the city.  

Starting in Tarndanyangga (Victoria Square) the first stop was the State Administration Centre, where speakers outlined the state government’s role in promoting the nuclear industry and demanded that Premier Mike Rann come out to address community concerns.  Next stop was Heathgate Resources where David Noonan from the Australian Conservation Foundation spoke about the company’s history of environmental negligence in operating the Beverley in-situ leach uranium mine.   At BHP Billiton David spoke about the company’s plans to establish the worlds biggest open cut mine, creating the worlds biggest toxic waste pond in the process.  Madeline from FoE then entertained the crowd with a song and there was an unfortunate ‘toxic’ waste spill on the pavement!

After a jaunt down Rundle Mall the crowd ascended the steps of parliament house and an open mike session drew speakers on various impacts of the nuclear industry, including the use of depleted uranium in weapons and the myth that nuclear power is a solution for climate change.  The tour finished up at Government House where Aunty Wendy filled us in on the history of genocide corner and the keepers of Lake Eyre, and a picnic lunch was enjoyed on the lawns.

View some photos from the tour at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88917993@N00/sets/72157624442164086/

Media Release Tuesday 15 June 2010
Historic visit to Australia explores possibilities for food sovereignty

“The way the world grows its food will have to change radically if the world is to cope with growing population and climate change while avoiding social breakdown and environmental collapse.”

The principal conclusion of the world’s most comprehensive assessment of food and agricultural systems, known as IAASTD 2008 (International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development)

There is a silent rural crisis in Australia. Farmers have been reduced to mere cogs in a machine and for growing numbers the pressure is too great.

But there is an alternative, one that has gained the support of hundreds of millions of small farmers in 70 countries around the world. It’s called ‘Food Sovereignty’, and it is the world’s biggest social movement.

Food Sovereignty means farmers and local communities exercising democratic control over our local, regional and national food systems. It means food and agriculture serving people and the environment first, not profit. It means the future, and it’s being built right now.

La Via Campesina (LVC), the organisation at the forefront of the global Food Sovereignty movement for the past 15 years, is making an historic first visit to Australia. LVC is considered to be the largest civil society organisation on the planet, representing the interests of some 500 million farming families.

Media release Wednesday 14 April 2010

The declaration for the South Australian food convergence, From Plains to Plate: the future of food in South Australia is released today.

“In February 2010, over 700 farmers, academics, government, health and community workers, environmentalists, permaculturalists, small growers, gardeners, students, educators and other community members gathered at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, for From Plains to Plate: the Future of Food in South Australia,” said event coordinator Joel Catchlove.

“Developed through consultation with the convergence participants, this declaration is a historical record of the discussions and ideas shared at this event, and a practical vision for ensuring a just, sustainable and secure food system in South Australia,” Mr. Catchlove said.

The declaration summarises key challenges facing South Australia’s food system, including food security, sustainability, urban planning, public health, economics and education and offers recommendations to address them.

“One of the most powerful aspects of From Plains to Plate was the participation of communities who are already taking action to increase access to healthy food in their communities in the face of climate change and economic and social challenges. However, there is also an important role for government to strengthen this work,” said Permaculture Education Zone spokesperson Eric Nicholson.

Declaration recommendations include:

• The establishment of a government agency specifically focused on Food Security and Sustainability, uniting the many, disparate government approaches to food and agriculture under one agency


• The establishment of entrenched land zoning for food security, protecting high-quality urban, peri-urban and rural land for local food production


• Greater support for urban food production, acknowledging urban agriculture’s potential to reduce carbon emissions and oil dependency and cultivate healthy food in the communities that consume it


• Government assistance for access to good land for young farmers


• Educational reform to place good food and its cultivation at the centre of schooling

Are you interested in having a more sustainable lifestyle? Have you heard about something called permaculture and would like to learn a little more about it?

Well, you’ll be pleased to know that one of Adelaide’s hippest Permaculturalists, Kim Hill, will soon be running a couple of Introduction to Permaculture weekend workshops in the Adelaide area, in April and May.

The weekend workshops will be opportunities to develop skills and knowledge, share and learn with other like-minded people, and have lots of fun!

The program for each weekend will be based on what you want to learn.

Some of the topics that will be covered are:

• learning from patterns in nature
• principles and design of sustainable systems
• designing food forests, buildings and settlements
• organic gardening, soils and composting
• appropriate technology
• water management
• community strategies, networks and resources.

The Environmental Defenders Office (SA) Inc presents

Biodiversity & the Law: Building Blocks for Life

A one day seminar occurring Monday, 3 May 2010 from 8.30am – 5pm at the German Club, 223 Flinders St.

Adelaide Registrations now open: Full $165 Concession $110

Note: The first 50 concession respondents pay only $60

Register via the website: http://www.edosaconference.org.au

Or download a brochure/registration form: http://www.edosaconference.org.au/media/programme.pdf