2008/7/21 Gregg Davis
Dear Adam;
Through the vision process the commitment was taken to address the food issue primarily through development of the integrated college garden, fundraising soon to begin and adverts for garderners out in the world. This is obviously more a middle term - longer term solution though i think a good one. Short term there hasnt been a specific call for all organic nor do we have funds for this at present. STudent reaction was pretty mixed on willingness to pay more for it. So with regret that will have to wait.
This is first time i am hearing this level of detail on water projects. I certainly dont have any problem with filters going in. Do you have a cost estimate for all houses and what kind of filters - i am pretty conversant with these issues from health point of view.
Longer term i think there is obviusly a great deal that we can and should be doing with a water research center right on our property!
Gregg Davis
2008/7/21 Gregg Davis
Adam, additionally, the college is becoming more and more subject to UK legislation around Health and safety issues, or lets say the enforcement level is picking up so we'll want to ensure that any remedies we develop are harmonizing with those regs. I dont see an issue there but is something the college ignores at its peril.
----- Original Message -----
From: A Ortaa
To: gdavis@###ne.org
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2008 3:32 PM
Subject: Water and food
Greetings Gregg,
I have posed to Matt the question of whether anything had moved on with the questions of water and food quality, which I feel are of great importance and should not be neglected any further, the water in particular. This article outlines the effects of chlorine in one's water fairly succinctly:
http://www.netstarter.com.au/Content_Common/pg-chlorine-effects-in-water.seo
Below is our conversation, I have not heard anything more since:
[quote message:]
2008/6/17 A Ortaa
All hail Matt,
A bit confused about the water question since Nick said that there was enough money in the student initiatives fund for a water filter for the kitchen and tearoom and John Wilkes said that he would be prepared to design a flowform for the tearoom. I told all this to Dave from Foundation who was going to find out more about which filter and talk more with the water folks etc, then get back to Steering Group. I take it this hasn't happened? The chlorine in the water is damn horrible, and this should not be put off any more, since it was clear to me in March that getting one filter was feasible. The short term action should be to put in at least one filter ASAP, I thought we had agreed on that, long term is installing proper filters in the houses, for which of course fundraising will be required.
About the food well no surprise, what you don't know doesn't hurt you say some, but did nothing become of the questionnaire q. asking if people would be prepared to pay more for all organic food? I want to know about this because I need to let the college know if I'm going to take meals next year. Not really sure if I want to continue with SG, since I intend to engage in various extra curricular things. Anyway thanks for replying to my message, perhaps now you wish you hadn't... but it seems crazy to me that people can go on drinking that bad water. Seems people will cease to notice even quite extreme things once they become accustomed to them. It's really not hard, the money is (or at least was) on the table! Speak to Nick again to confirm this, and if you would let me know how things progress.
Best,
A.
2008/6/15 Matt
Hi Adam,
Sorry for the no reply, we've made some slow progress on the water front - the idea is currently that we will do the fundraising ourselves rather than relying on the college to pay for it, so a small group has been working on checking out the options and we will start a long-term fundraising campaign next year.. As for the food, not much has been done in Steering Group, but there is a VSG plan to bring back the garden in a big way and through that, supply the kitchen with BD veggies etc. Also it's hoped that a BD Nutrition course will be starting in the next couple of years, so that will no doubt be coupled with a greater consciousness of the nutritional value of the food we get in the college.. We'll mention both of these issues to the Management group when we meet them in the next week or two..
Just so you're aware, we've been talking about some changes to the format of SG and we're planning on meeting in the orientation week before term starts to discuss and formalize some of those ideas and plan for the term ahead, so it would be good if you can make it for that..
hope you're well, looking forward to seeing you in September,
take care,
Matt
[/end quote message]
Since the Steering Group was apparently unable to do anything more with this matter in my absence I ask whether you have any plans for improving the situation.
Warm Regards,
Adam
*********
have not yet read that article, but is it not the case that in praising what speculators do for markets necessitates remaining in the paradigm that a globalised market is a good thing?
if you ever find yourself with 90min to spare (yeah right... fortunately it's divided into 10 min sections here's a lecture on codex alimentarius.
3 comments:
I believe strongly in liberty and freedom of the individual. So it follows I am not a supporter of heavy regulation. Although the consequences of laissez-faire policies and free markets are not always desirable, I prefer that playingfield to one constructed by misguided politicians and bureaucrats in response to a particular series of events or as a consequence of the best paid lobbiest. Freedom of information and transparency are the cornerstones. We have had global markets for millennia, they aren't new and they aren't going away. Who would you really trust to write rules to restrict or restructure them? No one who is likely to be in a position of authority. Its up to people to decide they care where what they buy comes from, how it is made, who it hurts. That is the culmination of the process of democratisation. Government (intentionally or otherwise) provides a platform wherby sufficient information is available for individuals to make meaningful decisions. We have it now, just so many of us don't care or choose the alternative. What would be the alternative paradigm? Ask Orwell.
hello again. hear hear regarding not supporting heavy regulation. however my perception is that the market has been forcefully globalised, by the likes of the world bank and world trade organisation, rather than become such naturally. as for the process of democratisation, my senses tell me that it is going backwards. did you hear of this?:
http://www.saveparliament.org.uk/
best,
a.
I disagree that markets have been forcefully globalised. We were trading with every nation under the sun way before Bretton Woods (the post war agreement tht established the World Bank [IBRD] and IMF). The WTO attempts to normalise international markets. In this process, mainly as a consequence of domestic interest group protectionism, it comes up with some wierd proposals. However, it tends in the direction of reduced tariffs, something I agree with. I do accept that the world bank has generally been a one policy shop, one size fits all, and this has not proved successful in all countries. However, another way of looking at its involvement in developing countries is as a less offensive form of colonialism than was previously being practiced (misguided rather than exploitative) and would have been practised had it not existed. Did it force countries in global markets? It certainly encouraged cash crops for export in countries that may have been better advised to stick with subsistence agriculture or low impact, local industry (were it possible). But no one is/was advocating subsistence agriculture as a solution to any of the developing world's problems. And the money came in from countries like ours not out of philanthropy but out of the desire/need to trade. Then we get to the Chicago School question, or back to Adam Smith. Should we trade? If we do then surely we are all equal in trade and the world is your market place. No predjudice and so no tariffs, no restrictions. Abolish the CAP, biofuel subsidy etc. But should we be trading food anyway (as opposed to widgets or value added goods) globally? That's another question. I tend to the believe that we should trade food internationally as little as possible. But what does that mean? Where's the line in the sand and who decides it? We do when we buy something. Ideally (and here's the fascist in me) we educate people to care and to want to know about what they are eating, where it came from, what its ethical, energy footprint is, what effect they are really having on the planet/people. Democracy, however, gives you the right not to care.
These are my favourites at the moment:
www.no2id.net
www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk
www.openeurope.org.uk
Yes, our liberties are getting eroded. We are sleep walking into an Orwellian police state. Loss of juries, 42 day detention, ID cards & associated database, incessant, unnecessary data logging by government etc. There is an excellent essay by AC Grayling describing the situation we face in the UK at the moment, I think its available from Liberty.
Happy harvest comrade.
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