Local Food

Posted Mon, 08/23/2010 - 13:43 by cmarchand

The majority (over 50%) of our food is imported from overseas and heavily dependent on fossil fuels to be grown, processed, stored and transported. With food quality decreasing, food shortages increasing, and transportation costs rising around the world, how do we address the issues of food security and food sovereignty to ensure that we can acquire safe, nutritionally adequate, and personally acceptable foods in a manner that maintains human dignity? Where will that food come from?

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‹ Sustainable Local Economy

We all need to change our habits.

by jdawson - 09/02/2010 - 09:34

Though a big consumer of goods and services, the City organization consumes very little food and the residents have much more direct impact by changing your habits and I encourage you to consider the steps you can take to reduce your impact on the global society and start your own 100 mile challenge.

As your representative on City Council one area I want to focus on is becoming more involved with the Alberta Urban Municipality Association (AUMA) and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). We as a City need to become more involved and help forge provincial and national policies which will enable us to proceed quickly with initiatives such as the  100 mile challenge and also ensure our security and sovereignty over the food we eat.

Visit electdawson.com for more about my ideas.

Jeffrey Dawson

100 Mile Challenge

by cyzerman - 08/24/2010 - 16:29

I feel that we should all make efforts to grown some of our own food and to purchase the rest of our food from local producers.

When I was a child a large percentage of the homes in Red Deer including ours had vegetable gardens.  Our garden was not only a source of healthy snacks but also provided me with invaluable lessons on nature and food preparation and storage.  Gardens also encouraged conversations with our neighbours as we would often talk to one another over the fence about gardening tips and other current topics in the community.

I applaud the Cities initiative with community garden plots for those citizens that do not have a opportunity to garden where they live. I would support more community plots in our City.

I would encourage the public to take advantage of the Red Deer Market on Saturdays to get some of their food as well as the new Downtown Market on Wednesdays.  I would also support a year-round indoor market if it featured local producers.

On interesting idea that I would like to share is the 100 Mile Challenge. This challenge tries to break our habit of buying foods that are imported.
http://100mile.foodtv.ca/