Creating a sustainable community food system
Editors Note: This article will reach you after the February 2-3 date of the conference (we did provide an ad in the last Planet Kansas). Due to the importance of this topic, we are including information about the topic in the article below.
- Are you concerned about the impacts climate disruption due to global warming and “peak oil” will have on our ability to feed ourselves?
- Are you troubled by studies showing the nutritional content of food is declining?
- Do you think multinational corporations have too much control over the food supply?
- Would you like to help increase the number of small family farms in our area?
- Do you want to eat fresh, delicious, and nourishing food grown close to home by people you know?
The global food system is highly dependent on cheap and abundant oil & natural gas supplies. For example, researchers have calculated that the average distance food travels from farm-to-plate in the U.S. is 1,300 miles, and other estimates are even higher. Moreover, conventional agriculture consumes enormous quantities of nitrogen fertilizers, which are synthesized using natural gas, and insecticides and herbicides, the majority of which are made from oil. Oil & natural gas supplies have tightened in recent years, forcing price increases, and this situation could worsen dramatically if predictions that global oil production will soon peak and begin to decline prove correct.
In addition, ecologists tell us that our ability to feed ourselves is increasingly at risk from climate disruption due to global warming, soil degradation, water supply limits, and more. One compelling piece of evidence that we’re straining against global limits is the fact that the world has consumed more grain than it’s produced in 6 of the last 7 years, forcing us to draw reserve stocks down to their lowest levels in over 30 years.
It’s always been risky to depend on distant strangers for one’s basic needs, and food is almost as basic as our needs get. Many of those who understand the challenges described above are convinced that risk has become far too great. We see an urgent need to create a food system in which decisions are made at the most local level possible and are based on direct personal relationships with the land and the growers rather than governmental policies. We also need to figure out how to feed ourselves today without degrading the ability of our children and grandchildren to feed themselves in the future. We ask you to join us.
Conference goals were:
– Explore the evidence that we are at or near the peak of global oil production and past the peak of North American natural gas production;
– Explain the serious consequences that oil & natural gas depletion, climate disruption, and other ecological challenges are likely to have on the global food system;
– Convince conference participants that we need a locally-based food supply not only for these reasons but also so we can have the most delicious and nourishing food;
– Inspire participants to take action to create a sustainable community food system and recruit others to join us.
For more information on this topic and how you can be involved, please call contact:
Ben Kjelshus at 816-767-8873 or email@example.com or
John Kurmann at 816-452-6707 or firstname.lastname@example.org
“The Inevitable Peaking of World Oil Production” by Robert Hirsch:
“Joint science academies’ statement: Global response to climate change”:
“Fifty Million Farmers” by Richard Heinberg:
“Peak Oil and Community Food Security”