No one who can walk and chew gum at the same time would deny that we are facing a climate emergency – and more worrying still, the prospect of irreversible loss of biodiversity at a global scale. There’s no doubt that co-ordinated actions by governments, businesses and
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Braving some of the worst weather of 2019, food bank managers, farmers and environmental and social justice charities shared a meal with MSPs outside of the Scottish Parliament in celebration of International Human Rights Day. The event, organised by the Scottish Food Coalition, was visually striking, with
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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness”… But in this new rendition of Dickens, the cities are exchanged for Brussels and Belfast, with major action on the way in the
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It’s been a fascinating few days in Colombo with the South Asia Nitrogen Hub. We’ve been learning about the perverse impact of farm subsidies on the environment, about the multiple influences on farmer decision-making, about farmers having to work off the farm to make ends meet and about
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Today is World Food Day, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has been promoting a video that states: “Over 820 million people suffer from hunger.”[1] This has been the reality for many in Scotland. This year’s Scottish Health Survey revealed that, within the
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‘Everything we do around food production is having the worst impact on the planet. If we designed the worst food system possible, we would come up with the way we do it at the moment.’ said Dieter Helm in a panel discussion Future Proofing Food, Feeding the
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25 of us came together for a gathering for small Scottish food producers in The Yurt, at Whitmuir Community Farm on Thursday 11 July 2019. Many travelled far, from all over Scotland including from Sutherland, and Dumfries. We came together to discuss ‘Food as a Relationship’ by
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This week, two milestone reports were released on poverty in the UK. The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty, Philip Alston, released his final report following a fact-finding mission to the UK last autumn. Alston details how increasing poverty and an undermined welfare system meant that for many of
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It was disappointing if predictable that much of the media coverage for the UKCCC’s net zero report last week focused on lifestyle changes – did this mean going back to the Stone Age, never flying and living in the dark to save the planet? – rather than
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The long-awaited consultation on a Good Food Nation Bill was published just before Christmas – you can read it here. It is complex and confusing in places, but the proposals are significant. This Bill will not suddenly change the way we produce or eat food: it is not
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