Catch up on Movement Building - October 2020

The Growing Together project winds down for Friends of the Earth this month, but the group that formed through this project will continue on to advocate for food sovereignty and sustainable solutions to our broken food system through creative and fun activities.

As you can imagine, the end of summer and harvest has been a busy time for the Growing Together agri-activists with seed saving workshops, farm visits and food sovereignty online theatre performances. They have also been busy researching and interviewing farmers around the country and have curated the latest research to establish a path to a more sustainable food system for Ireland.

Their new booklet, “Growing Together: Pathways to a Fair Food System in Ireland” explores the environmental and social inequities of our food system, shines a light on the impact of COVID-19 and outlines the potential that the concept of food sovereignty has to make our food system more ecologically and socially just.

According to the Nyéleni declaration of 2007, food sovereignty can be defined as: "The right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations."

This booklet will outline the major environmental and social issues pertaining to our food system and will go on to suggest practical ways in which our food system can become more democratic, environmentally sustainable and economically viable for small farmers and food producers. You can read the booklet in English here and in Irish here.

If you've been inspired to take action for a sustainable and fair food system, you can follow the Growing Together team on Facebook and Instagram for updates and to get involved.

Our Learning Hub has just launched and we can’t wait to read the four chosen books that will shape the activities and workshops in the coming months. The Learning Hub has built on the Book Club that we ran last year and aims to bring people together to learn about environmental and social issues while supporting people to take action together.

Climate Justice is the first topic to be explored through our Learning Hub with Mary Robinson’s book ‘Climate Justice’ and a webinar with activists Nathan Thanki and Seán McCabe on October 28^th. You can register for that webinar here at this link.

The next induction for the Facilitators and Trainers Network is taking place on October 22^nd, if you’d like to gain or develop skills in facilitation and join a peer supported community then this could be for you. Read more and sign up here at this link. https://www.foe.ie/activism/facilitators-and-trainers-network.html

The Growing Together project winds down for Friends of the Earth this month, but the group that formed through this project will continue on to advocate for food sovereignty and sustainable solutions to our broken food system through creative activities.

As you can imagine, the end of summer and harvest has been a busy time for the Growing Together agri-activists with seed saving workshops (including an online seed saving webinar that you can watch back here), farm visits and food sovereignty online theatre performances. They have also been busy researching and interviewing farmers around the country and have curated the latest research to establish a path to a more sustainable food system for Ireland.

Their new booklet, “Growing Together: Pathways to a Fair Food System in Ireland” explores the environmental and social inequities of our food system, shines a light on the impact of COVID-19 and outlines the potential that the concept of food sovereignty has to make our food system more ecologically and socially just.

According to the Nyéleni declaration of 2007, food sovereignty can be defined as: "The right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations."

This booklet will outline the major environmental and social issues pertaining to our food system and will go on to suggest practical ways in which our food system can become more democratic, environmentally sustainable and economically viable for small farmers and food producers. You can read the booklet in English here and in Irish here.

If you've been inspired to take action for a sustainable and fair food system, you can follow the Growing Together team on Facebook and Instagram for updates and to get involved.

Our Learning Hub has just launched and we can’t wait to read the four chosen books that will shape the activities and workshops in the coming months. The Learning Hub has built on the Book Club that we ran last year and aims to bring people together to learn about environmental and social issues while supporting each other to take action together.

Climate Justice is the first topic to be explored through our Learning Hub with Mary Robinson’s book ‘Climate Justice’ and a webinar with activists Nathan Thanki and Seán McCabe on October 28^th. You can register for that webinar here at this link.

The next induction for the Facilitators and Trainers Network is taking place on October 22^nd, if you’d like to gain or develop skills in facilitation and join a peer supported community then this could be for you. Read more and sign up here at this link.