Last week Oct 16 was World Food Day. To celebrate I attended the first annual (?) Calgary Food Summit put on by the Calgary Food Policy Council (CFPC). Visit the link to see the agenda for the summit. It was the very first time that I have ever been to a gathering of 130+ people who are all equally concerned about food production, urban agriculture, and the creation of sustainable agriculture practices in an urban environment. We were separated into groups seating around a table with about 8 other participants. Then the scheming began.
The evening was divided into 3 sections with topics focused on issues surrounding accessibility, the building of new food systems, and policy to support cultivation of new initiatives. A speaker for each issue got the discussion ramped up by proposing various questions for consideration in the team discussions. We broke out and spent about 45 min. on each topic brainstorming various policy dreams that the city/provincial government could get behind in order to support these solutions. We wrote solutions on paper and posted them on the walls. Looking around the room in the end...was inspiring to say the least.
I felt by the end of this 3 hour event as if I might just explode with visions of a new Calgary. The ideas and enthusiasm of the participants (ps - we were from all different backgrounds) was humbling, encouraging, and completely intoxicating.
What is the outcome? Hopefully a formation of a volunteer group within the CFPC who will take on some of the policy drafting, education initiatives, and community rustling that would instigate the changes to create a new food system in the urban core. Ahem, I hope to be among these folks.
Also -
I had been considering participating in the No Impact Project this week, and after today's mania of trying to have lunch without having brought one from home and not make trash...I'm hesitant. I did manage to use a cloth hand towel in the washroom of the office rather than paper towels, and I toted a bagel from the coffee shop in my own reused ziploc baggie.
Conclusion: carry clean tupperware, a hankie, and a hand towel at all times. And, utensils.
I feel pretty conscious of my consumption, but I'd like to know more about it. Maybe go on a landfill tour, or have someone track my personal trash. A friend passed this link on to me for a project which is basically my dream. It's called Trash Track and well, that's what they do. It's pretty astounding.
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