The 4th FeedingManchester took place on the glorious summer evening of Friday the 25th June 2010 at Hulme Community Garden Centre. The evening combined a networking and social event with the opportunity to discuss how we collectively encourage other organisations to adopt our definition of Sustainable Food and prepare for a possible sustainable food manifesto for Greater Manchester.
MERCi's Sustaining Change programme - this much needed project is working with the community and voluntary sector across Greater Manchester, encouraging and supporting organisations to become more sustainable. Sustaining Change aims to address three inter-locking areas: environmental, social and economic, through eight themes -
Food and Drink; Purchasing and Procurement; Energy and Water; Travel; Buildings and Local Neighbourhood; Inclusion and Participation; Partnership and Promotion; and Waste.
June 2009 saw the first in a series of FeedingManchester events, looking at practical and strategic ways to increase access to sustainable food in Greater Manchester. The events involving local food practitioners (growers, buyers etc.), are focused on partnership working and practical solutions, and aim to:
1) Bring together the growing number of enterprises & groups in Greater Manchester who are working on, providing and/or interested in sustainable food issues.
2) Identify obstacles to people sourcing/providing sustainable food, and solutions to those obstacles.
The present economic model of production is unsustainable, both ecologically and socially speaking. The majority of our food is produced through chemical and often intensive agricultural systems, shown, through wide research, to be linked to problems with soil depletion, decreasing biodiversity levels, water pollution, animal welfare issues, consumer health issues and climate change. On a global scale the production of cheap products are further linked to land rights issues, deforestation, extreme poverty and global conflict.
The Kindling Trust is a not for profit social enterprise with charitable aims (Company number: 6136029).
Kindling Trust Ltd - Unit 19, 41 Old Birley St, Hulme, Manchester. M15 5RF
