Where Local Sustainable Food Policy Meets Action
Cuts to Government Services, But not to Double Standards By Wayne Roberts Politicians at all levels are promising more cuts to government expenses without any cut to services. For politicians, this is better than a gift that keeps on giving. It’s a promise they can keep on promising. For most of the past 40 years, [...]
The worldwide price level of food is taking a great leap upward for the second time in less than five years. My bet is that this food price hike will match a rise in oil prices for wrenching impact on geopolitics, especially as the two are intimately connected. Food cannot be fertilized and shipped without [...]
Wayne’s spoke in Red Deer, Alberta, at their exciting Pathways2Sustainability conference; a reporter’s preview of the talk is available here: http://permaculturebc.com/Wayne-Roberts-Food-Security-Organic Watch Wayne’s Keynote:
I grew up with the habit of Thursday nights as the time when family shopped together at the local supermarket, and I always assumed, for good or ill, that supermarkets were permanent. It’s now clear that old style super-markets are on their way out. Beginning this month, Wal-Mart Canada kicks off its one-year agenda to [...]
There’s something a tad self-absorbed about the outpouring of media grief and analysis over a shooting rampage that left six dead in Arizona. Analysis is normally reserved for things that have larger numbers attached to them, like the uneventful and painfully slow death from starvation each day of at least 16,000 children (some reputable agencies [...]
I wrote most of this as an assessment of Toronto’s election during the day of October 25, before the polls were closed and any votes counted in Toronto’s city elections. I didn’t know who won, but I already knew what lost — Toronto’s longstanding consensus around the “radical middle” of city responsibilities for social belonging [...]
Politics Dak Prescott Womens Jersey has changed so much since I grew up that I still have trouble coping with modern conservatives who are usually outraged by the way things are going and are very militant and venomous about the need for abrupt changes. I find today’s radicals equally out of character with my memories. [...]
The narrow defeat of Canadian Conservative efforts to de-register rifle ownership will produce a lingering hangover for positive political and social movements, as Conservatives gear up to foment rural-urban divisions. The urban-rural divide that emerged during the rifle registration debate has been manufactured by slick urban bluebloods as a political gift that they hope will [...]
Driving from Toronto to Halifax last week to help move my daughter Anika into King’s College, I had a lot of quiet time to rehearse a rant against a recent flurry of attacks against local food systems by right-wing extremists across North America. I was pretty happy with some of my vitriolic lines until we [...]
It’s a pretty strong sign that we live in an information economy and society when the Conservative cancellation of the longform census became one of the hot button political issues of the summer season. I was stupefied when the Harper Conservatives dug in their heels, refusing to budge despite a chorus of harsh criticisms from [...]
With Labor Day just a few weeks away and badly in need of an event to celebrate, an historic agreement was signed on August 24. Written in legalese, the statement commits Sodexo, a gigantic global food service company employing some 500,000 workers to partner with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a tiny organization of [...]
Imitation is the highest form of flattery, and the intricate form of food production practiced by peasants through much of Asia and South America still express that flattery in relation to Nature. In the Global North, all food production except hunting and gathering is commonly referred to as agriculture. But in the Emmitt Smith Kids [...]
The Canadian International Council, Toronto Branch & The Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto present Feast Famine: Shifting to a Sustainable Food System. Featured Panelists: Professor Harriet Friedmann, Fellow, Demarcus Lawrence Womens Jersey Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto Rosemary McCarney, President & CEO, Plan Canada Dr. Wayne Roberts, Toronto Food Policy Council Margaret [...]
(Adapted from NOW Magazine, 2000-1) When I went on a welfare diet last week, I didn’t realize just how quickly I would have to swallow my pride. At the request of Daily Bread Food Bank, about 20 politicians, journalists and policy wonks agreed to try eating on the same budget as people on social assistance. [...]
Most people think of food as tax-free, but it’s not. The issue is not so much the absence of taxes on food, but the lack of purpose behind them. The general public calls such levies tax grabs. Among fans of smart public policy, they’re called dumb taxes. The federal government, with which most provinces will [...]
Here is a great presentation by Wayne Demarcus Lawrence Womens Jersey regarding the role of food Demarcus Lawrence Youth Jersey and hospitality in community development. Demarcus Lawrence Kids Jersey He talks about the role food policy experts can take in understanding the global tradition of “breaking bread” and how food bolsters connection and community with [...]
President Barack Obama’s efforts at reforming the U.S. approach to medical care won’t win many imitators in other countries. Indeed, he’s likely to be upstaged in global health debates by First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign against childhood obesity. Lady Obama launched a Let’s Move anti-obesity campaign on February 9, and is already catching up with [...]
I was asked to Alejandro Villanueva Kids Jersey speak to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in April 2009. IATP works locally and globally at the intersection Alejandro Villanueva Jersey of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and Alejandro Villanueva Authentic Jersey trade systems and I was pleased to speak [...]
On the occasion of its 40th birthday in November 2006, This Magazine asked 40 past and present contributors—and some distinguished guests—for a big idea whose time has come. This is my idea. In a knowledge economy, few people know how to make things that can actually be used. That’s why shopping has a bright future, [...]
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