Greenspeak - 'Fuelling A Food Crisis' April 17, 2007

Petroleum has become the lifeblood of both industrialised and developing countries. Yet there is increasing evidence that the days of easy access to cheap oil are fast running out.

Greenspeak will be looking at the impact of the industrialisation of
farming, fertilisers, food imports, biofuel, processed and packaged food and supermarket dominance on our vulnerability as oil becomes scarce.

_*Speakers*_

*Dr Caroline Lucas MEP, Green Party Member of the European Parliament.
*Caroline also sits on the Parliament's Trade and Environment
Committees, and is the author (with Andy Jones) of /The Great Food Swap: Relocalising Europe's Food Supply/. She was recently voted among the planet's top 100 people working for the environment.

In her recent report 'Fuelling a Food Crisis', Caroline highlights the
extraordinary dependence of existing food and agriculture policy on
cheap oil. She demonstrates why this will have to change, emphasising the urgent need to re-localise our food systems and refocus development policies, so that poorer countries can put food security before exports.

*Andre Viljoen RIBA,* architect and Subject Leader for architecture at
the University of Brighton's School of Architecture and Design.
Previously he was Deputy Director of the Low Energy Architecture
Research Unit at London Metropolitan University. In 2005 with Katrin
Bohn he produced the book /Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes CPULs: Designing Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Cities. /(Architectural Press)

Andre will make the case for considering urban agriculture as essential infrastructure in sustainable cities, describe Cuba's successful urban agriculture policy and present examples of what cities would be like if they integrated urban agriculture.

The evening will be chaired by* Paul Steedman, research fellow at The Food Ethics Council and Green Party candidate* for Queens Park ward, Brighton, in the City's May Council elections who says
"There is going to be a need for changes in how we eat. We will need to be eating seasonal, local food grown without the use of heated
greenhouses. Also there's a question mark over whether we should be eating so much meat and dairy as they are big emitters of CO2 and
methane. We need to re-engage people with lower impact ways of living, respecting food culture and being in touch with nature."

We're expecting this one to be busy, so get down there early to get a
good seat! See you there.

Official Website: http://www.greenspeak-brighton.org.uk/