Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Food sovereignty: what's on your plate?

Slow Food Perth will join with Christ Church Grammar School’s ethics centre to present a forum entitled ‘Food sovereignty: what’s on your plate?’ at the school in Claremont on 24 August 2010.

The panel will include:

* priest Frank Sheehan, Christ Church Grammar School chaplain and senior canon of Perth’s St George’s Anglican Cathedral
* journalist Anthony Georgeff, editor of Spice magazine
* academic Felicity Newman, an author and lecturer in food and culture at Murdoch University’s Centre for Everyday Life
* farmer Annie Kavanagh, who raises berkshire pigs on organic principles at her Spencers Brook farm in the Avon Valley
* a Christ Church Grammar School senior student
* parliamentarian Max Trenorden, The Nationals’ leading Member for the Agricultural Region, and
* Kim Chance, former Labor minister for agriculture and food [2001-2008], now chairman of the Australian Landcare Council

The forum will discuss the ethics of farming and eating. Do we know what’s on our plate, who produced it, how it was produced, and whether it is local or imported, fresh and seasonal or from last year’s crop? Do we care, or do we just eat?

For more information, visit the Slow Food website.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Live Below the Line

What is it? Participants restrict their eating and drinking to $2 a day for 5 days. You will get a personal experience of what living in poverty is like, as well as raising much-needed funds through personal sponsorship for international education projects.

Why $2? The international Extreme Poverty Line is marked at US$1.25 a day; people living on, or less, than this amount are living in extreme poverty. When this US dollar amount is adjusted for the Australian dollar, it equals roughly $2 a day.

When does the campaign start? Now! Everyone will complete the challenge at the same time, from the 2nd - 6th of August, but the sooner you sign up, the sooner you can start raising money! It is easier to sign up and begin now, so you won't be rushed to find sponsorship. It also means you can start blogging about your experience, sharing your stories and reading others, as well as recipes, tips and videos :)

Extra details: You can make your own teams - get some friends and create a makeshift 'village'! Then you can bulk buy, get sponsorship together, have poverty lunches and go fishing! It's a really good way to raise more awareness, as well as having extra support and fun.
There will also be small events running during the challenge week in August. So far, a movie night, soup kitchen, camping night and marketplace have been planned. If you don't like any of the events we've planned, then create your own!

Where does the money go? All funds raised go directly to life-changing education programs; when you sign up, you are able to choose between two.

1. Oaktree's newest project in Cambodia. Due to a war and genocide that happened just over 30 years ago, one in three Cambodians live in extreme poverty. Despite education being essential to an improved life, 85% of young Cambodians don't make it to secondary school, and even if they do, the quality of school education is extremely poor! This is why we are re-hauling three schools in the poorest provinces of Cambodia; retraining teachers, creating scholarships and outreach programs and creating better facilities (including toilets!) are some of the great benefits provided by this project.
2. A Poverty Education Program in Australian schools. The Global Poverty Project works to increase the number of people around the world taking action to end extreme poverty with their ground-breaking presentation 1.4 Billion Reasons. They provide Australian youths with the knowledge and resources they need to become leaders in their community, and contribute to the end of extreme poverty. Funds raised will be used to reach additional schools, and inspire grassroots initiatives.

How do I sign up? Go to www.livebelowtheline.com and click the sign up button. The website is pretty interesting as well, have a look around while you're there.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Lifecycles Workshop: Clothing


Lifecycles: Clothing
workshop and clothing swap


18 August 2010, 6:30pm – 8:30pm

Edmund Rice Institute for Social Justice, 24 High Street, Fremantle, WA

Who makes the clothes you wear? What can you do to improve working conditions in the garment industry in Australia and overseas?

Many of the clothes sold in Australia are made in sweatshops in the developing world where workers are underpaid, ill treated and sometimes forced to work against their will. But what about clothing made in Australia? Even workers in Australia earn as little as $2-$3 per hour producing clothing sold here.

If you’re interested in learning more about sweatshops and promoting more ethical practices in the industry, come to the next Lifecycles workshop. The Bluestocking Institute's Lifecycles workshops help participants develop action plans around the issues that they care about.

At the Lifecycles: Clothing workshop we’ll discuss working conditions in the garment industry and the role of consumers, governments and corporations in addressing widespread abuse in the industry. We’ll also discuss the many active campaigns locally and internationally aimed at improving working conditions in the industry.

The workshop will also include a clothing swap, so if you have any clothes that you no longer need, bring them along to share with others and walk away with some new (to you) items.

Suggested donation $5

RSVP to bluestocking@bluestockinginstitute.org or visit the Lifecycle Clothing event page on Facebook.

Sponsored by the Bluestocking Institute for Global Peace and Justice