‘Only one force can free us from the monopoly over action now held by national governments – our own gumption!’

—Wayne Roberts

Field notes from this week

Dear Mayor Foodworthy:

As everyone knows, there wasn’t much action coming out of the Paris talks on climate change. But a lot happened in terms of traction. Anyone who’s paying attention now knows (at long last) that global warming is happening and is already causing severe problems, and that everyone has to do something to minimize the damage.

Voices in the affluent Global North that denied global warming have been marginalized. Voices in the climbing-out-of-poverty Global South no longer think this is an issue that can be dealt with after they’ve industrialized and caught up with the North.

Let us be grateful for small mercies – that has always been my starting point as a food advocate looking for an opportunity to intervene in the world.

At last, we have some traction, something under our wheels that engages, and keeps our wheels from spinning (a metaphor for those who remember when cars used to get stuck in snow).

Now that we have traction, it’s time to get over the grand delusion of the Paris talks – that national governments, which have no deep commitment or ability to move the climate protection needle, get to monopolize the choice for action in the days ahead, even though they commit to nothing. No way, I say!!

This is the time that we move to establish another source of people power – local governments. Collaborate globally, but innovate locally. Only one force can free us from the monopoly over action now held by national governments – our own gumption! National governments, as Paris shows, have no intention of going public or declaring their uselessness in leading future endeavors, even though that’s really what the Paris talks confirm. We need a little kid to yell out “national governments have no clothes!”

We are the gamechangers we’ve been waiting for: that is the sober realization that comes out of Paris.

The main places where the shift will take place – from action to traction, and Paris to Praxis – is the governments of cities and city regions and the organizations of civil society.

Food, almost entirely ignored at Paris, will provide the terrain for traction for a number of reasons. It’s an essential human need that can engage everyone. Food production will face dire consequences from global warming as it is, and as it will be if the warming gets hotter. It offers the best and most accessible possibilities for action — for the simple reason that food actions alone, of all the big actions areas (transportation, buildings, and so on), have the power to both reduce global warming emissions and store carbon where it’s safe and sound, in the soil and in plants.

City governments already have the tools needed to do the job. They deal with food and food packaging waste, where a terrible percentage of global emissions can be reduced quickly and significantly. They are home to major institutions – most notably schools, universities and hospitals – that can move to purchase local and sustainable foods. They have all the planning authority they need to abolish parking lots in supermarkets because everyone can be provided with walkable access to main street food stores that are just up the block – thereby eliminating the need for one city car trip in five.  

So Mayor Foodworthy, the time has come to start moving the needle. We have over 5 years before national governments will be doing anything, so the field is clear!

Warm Regards,

Wayne Roberts, 
Office for City Food Initiatives