food security

FEASTA course in Belfast

Hosted at the Gibson Institute for Land, Food and Environment, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast

This was a course designed to explore the root causes of unsustainability: how our society and economy fails to think about and plan for its own long-term health and survival. The course fostered joined-up thinking in considering how to tackle the problems and frame potential solutions.

For instance, what is the link between global climate change, genetically modified foods and rising fuel prices?

The 10 sessions used Feasta’s ‘Community Learning Toolkit’, a CD ROM containing readings, videos and audio recordings that enable a …

Short Circuit

Short Circuit: Strengthening Local Economies in an Unstable World
by Richard Douthwaite. Expanded online edition published June 2003 with updates by Richard Douthwaite, Joanne Elliott and Caroline Whyte. Read Short Circuit online in its entirety.
Download pdf version(6 MB)

The global economy can no longer be relied upon to provide the necessities of life. Even in wealthy countries, the vagaries of free trade and the unimpeded movement of capital pose a threat not just to job security but to food and energy supplies as well.

Short Circuit proposes that each community build an independent local economy capable of supplying the goods and services its people would need should the mainstream economy collapse. It details the financial structures necessary for self-reliance, and it describes the techniques already in use in pioneering communities across the industrialized world. These inculde local currency schemes and community banks that enable local interest rates and credit terms to differ from those in the world economy. Efforts to meet local food and energy requirements using local resources are also reviewed.

Workshop: ‘Bringing together sustainable agriculture with sustainable economic development.’ – Liam Egerton

Date: March 6 2000
Venue: Dublin Food Co-op

A workshop with Liam Egerton from The Foundation for Local Food Initiatives (UK), presented by Feasta with the Dublin Food Co-op

Held on Saturday the 3rd of June 2000 at the Dublin Food Co-op

The Foundation for Local Food Initiatives is increasingly concerned about food issues and are looking for sustainable local alternatives to global agribusiness.

The Bristol-based Foundation for Local Food Initiatives is a not-for-profit co-operative company founded by some of the leading UK professionals in the fields of local food economies, sustainable agriculture, social regeneration and environmental management. Their aim …