Post in Food security for Canterbury

----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt Morris" <theyellowroom@xtra.co.nz>
To: <canterburyissues@forums.e-democracy.org>
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 11:07 AM
Subject: Re: [Canterbury Issues] Food security for Canterbury


> Hi Andrew
>  from a Community Board perspective I can say that I couldn't agree more.
>  We can do a lot better than we are doing in terms of enhancing our food
> security. Community gardens and school gardens are obviously part of the
> solution.
>  But there are even simpler options we could look at that would at least
> help. One, planting fruit and nut trees in streets and/or parks is, you'd
> think, a complete no brainer, a very easy means of future-proofing.
> However, when I asked the question recently council staff informed me that
> there is actually a policy stating that such trees mustn't be planted!
>  On the up-side, the Shirley-Papanui community board has formally endorsed
> the Transition Communities model as it applies to our ward, and we are now
> exploring how this appalling policy about fruit trees can be ammended. We
> have also built supporting community gardens into our board objectives...
> a small step but hopefully a meaningful one.
>  A joint discussion between the agencies you mentioned seems like a great
> idea to me.
>
>  Matt Morris
>  Chair, Greenspace and Traffic Works Committee
>  Shirley Papanui Community Board
>
>
> andrew <andrew@reurbanise.co.nz> wrote:
>  On Sun, 2008-06-08 at 13:36 +1200, Brian Sandle wrote:
>> I feel the Canterbury Plains with the proposed irrigation scheme may be
>> a target for GMO biofuels and feed crops, with disaster in store for
>> us.
>
> I agree, Brian, it would be a disaster. We're now well into the period
> that James Kunstler has dubbed the "Long Emergency" [1]. It's not your
> classic civil defence emergency that triggers our fight or flight
> response, and it's not business as usual which triggers our "sit on your
> backside and do nothing" response :-) - it's a whole new animal to deal
> with but deal with it we must.
>
> I think it's time for ECan, CCC and other groups to get together to do
> some strategic planning around medium-to-long term food security for the
> region. I know this is not within the normal scope of either agency, but
> these are not normal times ...
>
> Are there any politicians in the group (who are still listening)
> prepared to comment on this ?
>
> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Emergency
>
>
>
> Andrew Groom
> Bryndwr, Christchurch
> Info about Andrew Groom: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/andrewgroom
>
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>
> Matt Morris
>
> Info about Matt Morris: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/mattmorris
>
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