SUSTAINABLE FOOD AND ETHICAL BUSINESS
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ISSUE 1 - AUTUMN 2019 WICKEDLEEKS.COM
ways
to live plastic-free
A shore thing
What role will seaweed, vertical farming and insects have in a future of sustainable food?
PLUS
Co-founder of Extinction Rebellion on food, farming and why you should be out on the streets #WICKEDLEEKS
@RIVERFORD
Lucy Siegle on plastic, and Guy Singh-Watson on choice
WICKEDLEEKS.COM
EDITOR’S LETTER
CONTRIBUTORS Founder of Riverford, Guy Singh-Watson, writes a weekly newletter on veg, farming and food politics.
Lucy Siegle writes for Wicked Leeks on the real reason that McDonald’s plastic straws matter (p6-7).
WELCOME From Blue Planet plastic fever and plant-based eating, to Greta Thunberg and a global climate movement – the world is finally waking up to the rapidly changing environment around us. Gone are the days when a simple photo of a grower on a supermarket packet of veg satisfied a vague interest in where our food comes from. Many have moved past a simple desire for transparency. Instead, there is a powerful and unprecedented awakening in people’s awareness of connections between food and climate, soil health, buying choices, consumerism and environmental protection that will define all of our futures. That’s why we launched Wicked Leeks, to combine stories of the realities of food and farming, with an awareness of the urgency of the climate crisis, inspiring interviews, expert opinions, in-depth original investigations and sustainable living tips. Whether it’s understanding how a mass climate movement links to food (see pages 12-13), or tips to live plastic-free (page 14), there’s something for everyone. In fact, there’s far too little space in this print edition to do it all justice – for more on all these topics, plus exclusive interviews, visit wickedleeks.com and sign up for the weekly newsletter.
Anna Turns reports on the budding British seaweed industry as a new sustainable food trend (p8-10). Extinction Rebellion’s Gail Bradbrook on a wartime mentality and the joy of rebellion.
Wicked Leeks is an independent magazine published by Riverford Organic Farmers. Mailing address: Wash Farm, Buckfastleigh, TQ11 0JU. E: wickedleeks@riverford.co.uk T: 01803 227416 Follow us #WickedLeeks @Riverford
Nina Pullman, Wicked Leeks Editor 2
Editor: Design: Front cover:
Nina Pullman Arianne Marlow Dan Smale
NEWS
Regional diets and global sustainability ‘could save world’ By Nina Pullman Developing a ‘regional’ sustainability alongside global ideas of climate and meat intake could help create a fairer food system with more capacity to produce sustainable food. That was the message from food policy expert, Tim Lang, who spoke at this year’s Abergavenny Food Festival in a session named ‘the diet that could save the world’. Lang, who co-authored the recent Eat-Lancet report that produced the controversial ‘planetary diet’ guidelines, said: “The principles are global but the dietary picture is nuanced. The diet that could save the world could be very different in different regions. “There is an argument that livestock can sequester carbon, and that is true, but that is not how most animals are kept. Most livestock globally is fed on grains. 70 per cent of the British diet comes from elsewhere – we’re not feeding ourselves.” Lang said it is possible to combine a global need to reduce meat intake with national and regional farming systems that still benefit from livestock. Rewilding the uplands and bringing livestock down off the hills, but retaining them on lower regions as part of a soil fertility programme, would bring the benefit of
carbon sinks and flood defences, he said. Lang also said there is a role for citizens to “be noisier” about the food system they want to see. “We’re in an interesting place, and we’re in a stronger position to be noisier. Our politicians will not act on it unless we do that. It’s about us making the demands,” he said, adding that “there is a huge amount of money washing around food and not much of it goes to primary producers. “I think it’s fundamentally wrong to be squeezing farmers so much that they depend on subsidies,” he said. Chief executive of Abergavenny Food Festival, Aine Morris, used her speech at the press launch to highlight the empowerment behind seemingly small food moments. “It’s about who do we want to control our food, is it multinational corporations, or is it communities?” she said. “It’s about the small things you can do, like pickling a cabbage and making a sourdough starter, that can overall have a huge impact on a global scale. Food festivals are about taking back control.”
Who do we want to control our food, is it multinational corporations, or is it communities?
#WickedLeeks @Riverford
Ellis Wicked Leeks’ cartoonist on current affairs, food politics and more. See more at wickedleeks.com/author/ellis. 3
NEWS
Amazon fires shine spotlight on soya and beef By Nina Pullman
Image Victor Moriyama/Greenpeace
Organic standards prohibit soy from being grown on land converted from rainforests.
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Eating British grass-fed and organic livestock is a way of ensuring that meat consumption will not add to the deforestation crisis in the Amazon. That was the message from organic certification body Soil Association as fires raging across the world’s largest rainforest highlighted the role of beef and soya production in Brazil, and their consumption in western countries. The Brazilian agency monitoring the Amazon released data earlier this month that showed that the rate of deforestation this year is the highest since records began. Meanwhile, reports of widespread fires sparked media headlines across the world. Links have been made to Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsanaro and his favourable stance towards logging and deforestation for soya and beef farming, as well as global consumption of both products. “The fires in the Amazon are associated with landclearance for soy production and cattle farming,” said the Soil Association’s head of food and health policy, Rob Percival. “If we want to help here in the UK we should eat less intensively farmed, grain-fed poultry and pork, and more local, sustainable, grass-fed
meat like organic. “When purchasing soy-based products, look for organic certification, as organic standards prohibit soy from being grown on land converted from rainforests,” he said. Around half of the world’s soya crop is grown in Brazil and Argentina, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Protein-rich soya is used to make oils and is used in many food ingredients, but the vast majority (70 per cent) goes into animal feed. As a result, the average European consumes around 61 kg of soy a year, largely indirectly through animal products such as chicken, pork, salmon, cheese, milk and eggs, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Richard George, head of forests for Greenpeace UK, said that the crisis in the Amazon is “directly linked to overconsumption of meat and dairy in the UK and other G7 countries”, the Guardian reported. What can you do? • Choose sustainable sources of beef and soya • Consider the Ecosia search engine, which uses its profits to plant trees. • Support indigenous rights groups in the Amazon.
NEWS IN BRIEF Organic farming enhances bees and honey Organic farming enhances the population of honeybees and production of honey, a new study has found. Published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, the report found that bee colonies on organic farms had 37 per cent more broods, with 20 per cent more adult bees, and 53 per cent greater honey production.
Most shoppers ignore ethical issues Only four per cent of people actually act on the ethical issues they claim to care about when shopping, a new consumer research poll has found. Research group StreetBees, which gathers what it calls ‘moments of life’ by text or photos from a network of 2.5 million ‘users’, said that the new data proves that people “regularly say one thing, but do another”.
For more news on the environment, farming and food sustainability, visit: wickedleeks.com/news
NEWS
Global climate action gears up This autumn sees a ramping up of two major grassroots climate movements as citizen awareness of the climate crisis and demand for action rises. Extinction Rebellion is due to stage a two-week ‘rebellion’ in London and other cities in October, while the Global Climate Strikes take place on 20 and 27 September across the world.
Land can ‘help or hinder’ climate crisis, says IPCC Land management has the potential to exacerbate or help tackle the climate crisis through its vital links to carbon emissions and food security, a prestigious intergovernmental report has said. The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has outlined the catch-22 facing land management, with growing pressure from the need to feed a rising population, and simultaneous threats to
Organic September aims for ‘ world of difference’ The UK’s biggest campaign to raise awareness and boost sales of organic food took place throughout September under the slogan ‘together we can make a world of difference’. This year had a particular emphasis on activism, and how buying, growing or choosing organic food has a halo of positive effects, including on soil, wildlife, and slowing down climate change.
Major move for sustainable prawns The UK’s first land-based cleanwater prawn farm is set to start supplying restaurants in Scotland in a move that could transform the environmental impact of one of the most popular seafoods. The farm will use energy from an anaerobic digestor on a nearby dairy farm, and a closed-loop filtration system. For more on the future of sustainable food, see pages 8-10.
Food and farming are central to climate action.
food security caused by extreme weather disrupting food supplies. The pressure of climate change on land and vegetation reduces the potential for them to help mitigate the effects, such as through reforesting, and the time taken for trees and soil to store carbon effectively. Better land management can contribute to tackling climate change but is not the only solution, the report said. Authors said that reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors is essential if global warming is to be kept to well below two, or even 1.5 degrees. “There is real potential here through more sustainable land use, reducing over-consumption and waste of food, eliminating the clearing and burning of forests, preventing overharvesting of fuelwood, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, thus helping to address land related climate change issues,” said co-author, Panmao Zhai.
Extinction Rebellion urges farmers to join The co-founder of climate direct action group Extinction Rebellion has called on farmers to take to the streets and help pressure the government to act more urgently to tackle the climate crisis. Gail Bradbrook spoke at a conference held by the Sustainable Food Trust to discuss how the food and farming sector can achieve net zero carbon emissions. “Economic growth falls by one per cent with every one degree of warming,” she said. “We’re on track for four degrees. This system is over whether you believe it or not. “What we’re doing is based on social theories of change. You need an active confrontation if you want to see change, that’s what it takes. It can be beautiful and peaceful. Join us and bring your tractors,” she said, calling on
farmers to start a “rural rebellion”. She noted the sixth mass extinction of biodiversity as well as the impact of climate breakdown on food production, describing future scenarios as a “multi breadbasket failure”.
Extinction Rebellion wants urgent action on climate. 5
OPINION
The real reason why McDonald’s straws matter Lucy Siegle Environment journalist and author of Turning the Tide on Plastic
The only thing recycled this summer was a story about how rubbish eco straws are, but why? So, the reviewers looking back on the summer of 2019, this brewing political crisis and the backdrop of a climate emergency will want to see if anyone captured the mood. They will spend time trying to decipher stories such as ‘Hated McDonald’s straws can’t be recycled’ and more on the evils of paper straws and eulogising of plastic. It will be very confusing. This straw story has history. Back in March 2018, McDonald’s announced its plan to swap out the 1.8 million plastic drinking straws it dispenses through its ‘restaurants’ across the UK every day to more sustainable paper. I have history with the story too, because in the early spring I was duly dispatched as a reporter to the facility in Camarthenshire, Wales, producing the replacement paper straws ahead of the big changeover. The facility, which produces a number of paper and board packaging options for brands wanting to move out of single-use plastic, had been set up by an Italian entrepreneur and was now employing
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60 local people. It turns out making paper straws (without plastic-based adhesive and coating) is actually quite difficult, and the process had to be retaught. Nobody has made any paper straws for 60 years in Europe. Their return, while not Earth-saving in and of itself, represented a shift, an example of building capacity for a plastic-free future. But as these straws were rolled out across the UK, almost all commentators wanted to focus on how crap the straws were and how they made your drink taste funny. (They don’t). An internal memo from McDonald’s suggest that the new paper straws, (or “hated” paper straws to quote The Sun), were not recyclable and should be thrown in with general waste for incineration or landfill. Cue headlines dripping with schadenfreude, the gist of which was: ‘green eejits demand straws are changed, McDonald’s pressured into move from recyclable plastic to non recyclable paper. Own goal!!!!!!!’ The only thing being recycled at this point is the story, but why? It is not ideal that McDonald’s cannot recycle these straws but it was never very likely anyway. In truth, our national recycling infrastructure is so impoverished and our capacity so low that only bone dry, completely grease-free paper and cardboard can really be dealt with. Meanwhile, if anyone is mourning McDonald’s good old fully recyclable plastic straws: save your tears. Very little low-grade plastic waste can be easily or practically recycled in our mishmash of household bins and sorting centres. In reality, clear plastic bottles are the only material that can be consistently sold into the international recycling market and reprocessed. The tubs, trays and other bits we pop in the bin are often destined for Energy from Waste centres, i.e. incineration. All of course are sold as ‘recyclable’, or that’s certainly the impression given. But you can recycle anything if you are prepared to put enough energy and time into recovering the different bits of materials. The thing is it wouldn’t be a good use of energy or time. It simply wouldn’t be worth it. But the tale of two straws (one of which is environmentally indefensible because it could easily become fugitive plastic pollution) and this rather manufactured backlash isn’t really about the reality of recycling. It is about smearing environmentalists and any and all environmental change. McDonald’s has just been caught in the crossfire. On straws, we are only a few pieces away from blaming the whole saga on Greta Thunberg. The direction of travel in these pieces is always the same, environmental change is unhinged, alarmist and seeking to ruin your life, starting with your milkshake.
OPINION
HIGH VELOCITY RETAIL Guy Singh-Watson Founder of organic veg box company Riverford
The choice many of us want is to be part of the solution, rather than the problem; we might even make a few sacrifices for that. I gave a talk at the World Retail Congress in Amsterdam last month, in return for a £2,000 donation to Send a Cow, a charity that helps small-scale family farmers in Uganda. I sensed it would be grim, but was unprepared for the life-sapping banality of so many global brands desperately searching for a pulse of originality in the corporate hell of a conference centre. Neither the conference strapline - ‘High velocity retail’ - nor the smoke machines, light show, or thudding beat of a ‘90s rave could breathe life into this moribund gathering. A session on brands ‘craving authenticity’ (no irony detectable) was followed by a faintly uncomfortable Oxford philosophy professor. Looking as if he felt he might have sold his soul to the devil, he explained how we have moved beyond buying stuff, through services and experiences, past brands, and now want ‘meaning’ for our money (again no irony detectable). By this time my wife Geetie, who all along said I shouldn’t accept the invitation, had left in disgust. Despite my mounting revulsion at the cynical manipulation of consumers, I felt I
should at least understand what we as a business are up against. Stuart Rose, formerly of Marks & Spencer and their eco initiative Plan A, told us that customers expect to buy what they want, where they want, when they want, and now expect to pay what they want for it. Such is the modern e-commerce frenzy, with everyone terrified of the Amazon tsunami sweeping in from the horizon. I was depressed to hear the man known as the ‘good, principled’ face of retail accept that running ever faster to meet the ever less reasonable whims of consumers, whatever the commercial, social and environmental cost, is an inevitable necessity. As consumers, do we really want those choices anyway? The choice many of us want, but no speaker offered, is the chance to be part of the solution rather than the problem; we might even make a few sacrifices for that. A marketing industry, so adept at mining our evolving insecurities and inner discontent to fuel the demand that is killing our planet and our souls, comes close to evil. We should all reject the ‘consumer’ label, with its implications of being passive and manipulated, and rise up to become responsible citizens with the confidence to find meaning in our lives without the medium of brands. My final advice to the audience was to “get the hell out of here while you still have a soul and a pulse”.
Wicked Leeks Voices Hear from our regular opinion writers: Joe Atkins on life as a Riverford coowner, and why we should spend more on food.
Emily Muddeman on social media and food trends.
Jon Soellner on why he is (sometimes) an angry vegan.
PLUS: Columnist Joanna Blythman on meat and the problem with a ‘planetary diet’.
To read more go to wickedleeks.com/opinion 7
FEATURES
A shore thing The UK’s first large-scale commercial seaweed farm has just been given the go-ahead in Scarborough, and others are in the pipeline in Devon and Norfolk. So, what makes seaweed so popular and, more importantly, so sustainable?
By Anna Turns
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Photo: Dan Smale
FEATURES Often described as a superfood, seaweed is rich in vitamins and minerals, high in fibre, low in fat, and contains many trace elements essential to our diet. “This emerging sector has a lot of potential and seaweed also has many different applications besides human food,” says Cat Wilding, a senior research assistant at the Marine Biological Association (MBA). Seaweed is used as agricultural and aquaculture feed, extracts can be used as a gelling agent, it’s important in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and shows promise as a biofuel and bioplastic. In fact, thousands of bitesize seaweed capsules of water were being trialled at the 2019 London Marathon as an ingenious way to eliminate single-use plastic waste. With an astonishing diversity – 650 species of red, green and brown seaweeds grow around the British coastline – seaweed has been a largely untapped resource. Until now. Half a dozen or so small-scale artisan ‘producers’ are licensed to handharvest seaweed, from Mara Seaweed in Edinburgh and the Hebridean Seaweed Company, to Ebb Tides in East Devon and the Cornish Seaweed Company. But this wild harvest is no longer meeting growing consumer demand, and companies are now applying to cultivate seaweed offshore.
Wilding explains that because seaweed hasn’t traditionally been a huge part of our diet, Europe is playing catch up. “Some commercial seaweed farms already exist in Norway, France, Spain and Portugal, and in China, seaweed has been farmed for almost a couple of millennia, albeit using different techniques. In Asia, fragments of seaweed are spiked onto bamboo sticks where they grow vegetatively in shallow sea water on a huge scale,” says Wilding, whose research focuses on how seaweed responds to climate change and marine heat waves. Former fisherman and commercial diver Wave Crookes and his partner Laura Robinson, a professor in marine science, have recently secured £472,000 in funding from the government’s Coastal Communities Fund to set up England’s first commercial seaweed farm. Located in the North Sea, four miles from Scarborough, their company SeaGrown will farm and harvest brown seaweeds that grow naturally in this area, such as sugar kelp and oarweed, over 25 hectares of open sea. This summer, they’ll install a network of buoys and ropes fixed to the seabed, then grow a solution of spores in the lab until they develop into seedlings. These will be transferred onto the rope at sea this autumn, and by February or March next year, the first seaweed should be ready to »
With increasing demand for handharvested seaweed, this industry is set to scale up around the British coastline.
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FEATURES
» harvest.
“As farming methods go, seaweed farming is as sustainable as you can get: we only harvest what we have seeded in the first place, it doesn’t use any chemicals, power, freshwater or land space,” explains Crookes. “It’s also incredibly good at absorbing carbon and releasing oxygen into the water. We’ll be creating marine jobs in what is actually quite a deprived coastal area, plus the farm will create diverse habitats and hopefully become a haven for marine wildlife.” In fact, wild kelp forests are a nursery area for breeding fish, crabs, lobsters and a foraging ground for other species including sea birds. Harvested seaweed will be used across the full spectrum of industries – some will be sold for human consumption and certified as vegan and organic. “The number of vegetarians and vegans is growing, and there is an increasing public awareness of sustainability, provenance and the carbon footprint of food – seaweed scores very well on all of these counts,” adds Crookes. SeaGrown is just the start of serious commercial upscaling in the most sustainable way possible. The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) runs two small experimental seaweed farms on the west coast and there is a small-scale kelp farm on Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland. Other controversial proposals for mechanical harvesting of existing seaweed beds off the coast of Scotland and Ireland have met with opposition from local communities. Marine coastal ecologist Dr Angela
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Mead hopes to get a licence for a 1.5-hectare commercial seaweed farm in Start Bay, south Devon, a project that has been four years in the making. “It’s my career dream to use my marine skills to produce a green business that helps combat climate change and is good for the environment,” says Mead, who is partnering with the MBA and SAMS for an 18-month pilot. “Seaweed farming is an exciting and innovative field and I have an opportunity to help shape it by using data collected from this research farm to produce easy-to-follow guides for new seaweed farmers.” Mead aims to harvest 50 tonnes of brown seaweeds and half that of reds, and she’s excited by the potential to produce seaweed for food: “I love seeing cooks on TV using lovely seaweed products within their menus. Seaweed has massive potential – from growing species that can be used directly as fresh and dried ingredients, to producing functional products, like agar-agar that is used as a gelling agent.” For Wilding, seaweed production, if done well, could be an extremely sustainable, massive resource with so many different applications: “Ten years ago, there really wasn’t much of a seaweed world here in the UK, so this new wave of momentum is really exciting.” Going it alone To harvest seaweed from the beach for personal consumption, check out Natural England’s guidance to do this sustainably.
Wave Crookes is setting up the UK’s first commercial seaweed farm near Scarborough.
FEATURES
Sustainable food of the future… Vertical farming: On the up
The Jones Food Company grows over 400 tonnes of salad a year. Image Hannah Challinor.
Standing 12 metres high and with 17 stacked levels of indoor growing space, lit with LEDs in a mixture of red, white and blues – is this really the future of farming? Lincolnshire-based Jones Food Company’s (JFC) vertical farming system is capable of producing over 400 tonnes of baby leaf salad a year in about 5,000 square metres of indoor space. While there has been development in growing berries, tomatoes and other fruiting plants through these systems, the
technology is not yet there to make these crops scalable and JFC is concentrating efforts on baby leaf and herbs. Other city growers, such as New York’s Sky Vegetables, a rooftop farm in The Bronx, and Growing Underground, a hydroponic farm located 33 metres below the streets of Clapham in south London, see their role as an incredibly short supply chain for produce directly into the city. By Ramona Andrews.
Bug grub: Could insects save the planet? There’s a certain disgust often associated with mini beasts and creepy crawlies. But what if these nutritious little critters hold the key to reducing our carbon emissions? Entomophagy, the practice of eating insects, could dramatically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and be a far more sustainable protein source than beef, lamb and chicken, according to a 2013 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2013, which urged more people to eat insects.
Entomologist and founder of Pembrokeshire-based Bug Farm Foods, Sarah Beynon, believes that insects can be part of the solution to feeding a growing population. “By farming insects sustainably, we can produce more healthy protein with a smaller carbon footprint while using fewer resources. These future foods can help plug the gap, instead of further intensifying animal production,” she said. By Anna Turns.
Insects are widely accepted as food across Asia and Latin America.
Floating into the future
Floating farms can be located close to certain cities and help reduce food miles for some products.
When Hurricane Sandy hit the US and Caribbean in 2012 it caused an estimated $70 billion worth of damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure. But it also gave birth to an idea that offers a radical approach to fresh food production and a potential new weapon in the fight against climate change. Peter and Minke van Wingerden were in Manhattan to see the damage first hand seven years ago, noting how the increase in severe weather events was putting food supply in jeopardy.
Fast-forward to 2019 and the Van Wingerdens are a few months into making that dream a reality. Their Floating Farm, located in the Port of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, is described as a world first, producing milk from 32 cows on an offshore platform, milked by robots and all sold locally. The business is in the process of moving into yoghurt production, and designs are being drawn up to extend the concept into chicken, as well as fresh produce. By Michael Barker.
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FEATURES
REBEL FOR LIFE Extinction Rebellion co-founder Gail Bradbrook talks to Nina Pullman about how to turn fear about the climate into action and why rebellion is sexual. Perched on a straw bale in a smart white conference dress and with bare feet, Gail Bradbrook is talking about rebellion. The co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, the direct action and civil disobedience group against climate inaction, has spent the morning addressing an audience of farmers and academics and laying down the scale of the challenge in no uncertain terms. “We’re either going to have a step change in humanity,” she pauses, “or we’re going to die. That’s how I see it.” She laughs at her own statement, feet swinging on the bale. For someone involved in a movement that’s in the business of waking people up to the climate apocalypse, Bradbrook’s default is surprisingly upbeat. “What a more wonderful time to be alive than to try to support humanity,” she continues. “It’s an honour to be involved in that change. I think that’s the thing about rebellion, I keep telling people and it sounds like an awful thing to say, but I think it’s quite sexual. “Not everyone will feel that, but if you actively feel defiant and empowered – it comes from the land, that feeling,” she says. Land is a recurring theme at today’s event, where Bradbrook gave a typically rousing speech to set the scene for what is facing humanity unless radical changes in energy, land and food take place, including the sixth
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mass extinction of biodiversity and “multiple breadbasket failures”. Bradbrook herself sees the role of farmers as vital: “I’m here to speak with farmers as a rebel, because I think that farming and the goals of Extinction Rebellion are intimately linked. I think that farming is a huge part of the solution, as much as a lot of farming is a huge part of the problem at the minute. We have to get back to naturebased farming and regenerative agriculture and organic, and permaculture, and all the rest of it.” A scientist by training, and with a PhD in molecular biophysics, Bradbrook has an extensive back catalogue of social change activism, including the transition town movement and Extinction Rebellion’s predecessor, Rising Up. “I’ve always been a seeker of ‘what’s going off in this world, why are we doing this to ourselves, you know?” she says. She cites social change academic Jem Bendell and political scientist Erica Chenoweth, whose figure that 3.5 per cent of the population needs to actively engage with an issue to make a change happen (two million people in the UK), shapes Extinction Rebellion’s drive to scale up and bring more people onto the streets. And it appears to be working. The shutdown of London and other cities across the UK in April this year saw thousands take to the streets, and over 1,000 arrests – another way Extinction Rebellion encourages its activists to gain attention. The group has three core asks: to tell the truth about the ecological and climate collapse; to enact legally binding targets to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2025; and establish a citizen’s assembly to oversee what is needed to take place. The target of 2025 itself has attracted attention, with other green groups, including
FEATURES the government’s Committee on Climate Change, choosing 2050 for their own target as more feasible. “It’s not possible within this paradigm,” agrees Bradbrook, who likens the situation to a wartime mentality. “Look at what happened during the second world war – everything that was impossible was done,” she says. Bradbrook says Extinction Rebellion is working with a group called the Rapid Transition Alliance to look at the practicalities of adapting to a climate emergency, adding: “We have to move into emergency mode, and I don’t know what’s possible when, but what is possible is what our wills decide.” One of the criticisms levelled at Extinction Rebellion is the disruption caused to everyday lives. How does Bradbrook speak to those who just want to get on with their day? “That does feel pants,” she says. “And when you block a road, some people will get significantly inconvenienced. Some people will miss an appointment that they might have been waiting for weeks for, and that’s not cool, is it? The point is that I don’t want to be on the streets, I want to be back in my community, doing the adaptation and mitigation work. But there’s no point doing that until we’ve got the success of the rebellion behind us.” With her strong Yorkshire accent and
We’re either going to have a step change in humanity, or we’re going to die. That’s how I see it.
speeches delivered with a healthy scattering of swearing, Bradbrook is becoming a regular on the speaking circuit, talking about Extinction Rebellion at industry conferences, as well as more typical activist events such as Glastonbury and Womad festivals. “Obviously if you’ve got mental health issues, or particular responsibilities or migration status, or a certain ethnicity and you think you’re going to be treated badly,” she pauses, before adding, “I mean especially in this country – environmental activists get murdered in other places – it’s actually a bit outrageous, and I don’t mean to shame people, but it’s a bit outrageous to be like, ‘I’m a bit nervous about getting arrested.’” It certainly does feel as though Extinction Rebellion is having an effect – there’s been widespread media coverage and the next direct action will take place in mid October. Is there a sense internally that things are changing? “People are constantly saying to me, you’ve changed the conversation. It’s the school strikes as well, and it’s the Attenborough film, I don’t want us to take all the credit for it,” says Bradbrook. “The question now is whether we can keep it in the public domain. We’re just on the streets for two weeks and honestly it’s more fun than a holiday. Just come and see.”
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LIFESTYLE
Less is more If you want to use less plastic, then just use less. For the things that we do struggle to find alternatives for, we’ve just shifted these things from being regular purchases to being occasional treats.
Solid progress Name a bathroom product, and I’ll show you a plastic-free, ‘solid’ version of it. It makes sense really. If plastic is the perfect solution for transporting and storing liquids, then re-think the liquids. Cosmetics brand Lush (shampoo bar, above) is trailblazing here.
5 WAYS TO LIVE PLASTIC FREE
Take the easy street Box schemes are a great way to get fruit and veg delivered to your door with minimal plastic. But you may not know that you can get store-cupboard essentials the same way. Hop on over to either Zero Waste Club or the Plastic Free Pantry.
At the beginning of 2018, Sophie Tait set a bullish goal to reduce her family’s plastic use at home by 80 per cent. It wasn’t easy, but a year later, they’re doing it, and doing it well. Here are a few things they learnt along the way. Sophie Tait is the founder of trashplastic.com - a website that helps people live well with less plastic.
Think big Buying things in bulk sizes significantly reduces the amount of plastic when compared to buying a bottle at a time. Consider investing in five-litre jumbo containers of your bathroom and kitchen products. The Ethical Superstore and Big Green Smile are good places to look.
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Aim for progress not perfection It’s more realistic to seek out products that use much less plastic. One example of this is Splosh you buy the bottle once, then order refills which are sent in letterboxfriendly pouches.
LIFESTYLE
How to cut your food waste When you think of all of the energy, skill and knowledge that growing vegetables takes, it’s shocking that approximately one third of all food produced in the world for human consumption is lost or wasted. One of the ways to combat food waste is so-called ‘compleating’ – simply put, it’s about eating the whole ingredient or food, and letting no edible parts go to waste. Making your veg go further by using more of the plant is a wonderful way to explore new recipes, pack more nutrients into your meals and save money, too. By Becky Marshall
Be a breadwinner
It’s not just veg that is found in British bins - a massive 22.4 per cent of all bread is thrown away, so here are two delicious recipes that will transform your crusts into a really special dish. ‘Poor Man’s Parmesan’, or pangrattato, is made from breadcrumbs fried with garlic and chilli. It’s traditionally used to sprinkle over pasta dishes like linguine with purple sprouting broccoli and chilli. A versatile ingredient, you can also use it on salads, fish or chicken. To make your own ‘soy’ sauce, you can soak leftover or stale sourdough in water overnight; the natural yeasts are released to create a fermented liquour. In the morning, remove the bread and reduce this liquor down to a more concentrated amount. For more recipe ideas, go to riverford.co.uk/recipes.
Beetroot leaves
If you like bitter greens, beetroot leaves are a fantastic leafy side dish - they’re both delicious and highly nutritious. Simply chop and wash both leaves and stalks, and braise in chopped garlic and olive oil. Use a heavy-bottomed pan, lid on, medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add a good squeeze of lemon after 5 minutes, cook for another 5-10 minutes, season to taste and serve.
A stock pot to go
Having a stock pot on the go is a simple way to get every bit of goodness from veg trimmings. A decent homemade vegetable stock really improves any soup, stew, risotto or sauce. There’s no need to be exact with your veg – use up what’s left in your fridge. Make a large batch and freeze, ready for use in soups and stews. It will keep for up to a month in the freezer.
Carrot top pesto Feathery carrot tops are full of flavour, and if they’re in reasonable condition they’re good to eat, so there’s no need to throw them on the compost. This pesto is great tossed through pasta, or drizzled over roasted carrots, new potatoes or greens. Try crumbling mozzarella or sheep’s cheese over the top, too. All you need to do is blitz the leafy tops from one bunch of carrots, add a small handful of basil, 50g walnuts, 25g parmesan, 1 garlic clove, and 100ml of olive oil in a food processor along with salt and pepper.
Photo: Richard Gee 15
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Choose food as it should be.
CHOOSE RIVERFORD. Ethical organic veg. Delivered. riverford.co.uk/veg
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SOURCE: Savanta – July 2019. Results based on comparing the plastic packaging usd in contents of Riverford’s three most popular veg boxes across each of the w/c 12th, 19th, and 26th July with the plastic packaging used for comparable products from 7 leading supermarkets.