Organiser's description (via the Centre for Food Policy):
The facts are clear. Whichever way you cut it, the crises of climate, health, biodiversity and more demand we have a different relationship with our food, whether consumer, producer, or policy maker.
In the absence of a sense of urgency by those we elect, people in the places they call home are offering an alternative more inclusive approach to nurturing community and planet. Despite the obstacles before them, people are growing and sharing fresh food, creating local food economies and greening their grey urban landscape. Pam's presentation will outline why is it so difficult, and what needs to change to scale -up these localised approaches. What might a new relationship between citizen and state look like and how can public land be repurposed to support the food systems change the current crises are demanding?
The talk will be followed by an online Q&A session.
Pam Warhurst is a community leader, activist, environment worker and founder of the voluntary gardening initiative, Incredible Edible, in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. She is involved in local politics and national policy and is currently the Chair of Incredible Edible.
Pam has served as the Chair of the Board of the Forestry Commission and has been a member of the Board of Natural England, where she was the lead non-executive board member working on the Countryside & Rights of Way Bill in 2000. She has been both Deputy Chair and Acting Chair of the Countryside Agency, a Labour council leader on the Calderdale Council, and a board member of Yorkshire Forward.
In the 2005 New Year Honours list Warhurst was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), for services to the environment. In addition, she has given many lectures all over the world, wrote a book about this project, and posted some TED talks that have over several thousand views.
