food issues
Coles: Corporations that don’t understand social media should learn it or leave it
August 1, 2012 | Russ Grayson
IF ANYBODY wanted proof that big corporations are clueless about social media and that their corporate culture is one of blame-and-buckpassing, they need look no further than the deplorable incident of Coles in removing critical content from its Facebook page. Deplorable, that is, for the corporation and its public image.
From village to city state to megalopolis, food shapes cities and lives
November 5, 2011 | Russ Grayson
FOOD SHAPES CITIES. It was once found in the marketplaces in the middle of our towns and cities. Here, people gathered to buy and sell food, to gossip and exchange news. The market was shop, news bureau and social exchange… the vital heart of the city, the focus that tied the city to its productive hinterland ever so closely through its culinary and economic links. The market was the point of interaction between farmer and eater.
It was Costa with lettuce and corn at Waterloo
November 5, 2011 | Russ GraysonCosta the telegardener does a lot to popularise growing food in our cities. He was at it again when he led an afternoon workshop at Waterloo Library…Read More
Public narrative the approach at food system talk
October 10, 2011 | Russ GraysonI made use of the Public Narrative approach in a recent structured conversation about food exchanges at the Transition Bondi Wednesday evening soiree…Read More
Celebration recognises Sydney Food Connect’s first year
April 24, 2011 | Russ Grayson
A LITTLE OVER A YEAR AGO I delivered a presentation for the Sydney Food Fairness Alliance at the Plains To Plate Future of Food Conference in Adelaide. A highlight of that conference was the launch of a bold new venture in community food, Food Connect Adelaide.
Community composting – here one day, gone the next
April 1, 2011 | Russ Grayson 1… by Russ Grayson
What had started as an innovative idea of local people came to an end when, one warm Wednesday afternoon in late March 2011, the City of Sydney removed the community composting installation in Peace Park, Chippendale.
Community composting – think before acting
March 19, 2011 | Russ Grayson 1…by Russ Grayson
A woman walks down the road carrying a couple plastic shopping bags. Reaching a large, tall, green box conveniently located by the footpath, she flips open the lid and empties the contents of her plastic bags, one after another, into it. Out tumbles orange and potato peel, apple cores and banana skins and last night’s leftovers. No illegal dumping this—we are witnessing a new phenomenon in our cities—community composting.
A new kind of public park
March 18, 2011 | Russ Graysonby Russ Grayson
How do you combine an area of boring, low quality lawn, a gas barbecue and a few tables and bench seats and a couple council education courses into a cohesive area of public open space? The answer: create a new kind of public open space.
A celebration of growing and sharing food in Adelaide
March 1, 2011 | Russ Grayson
I like receiving mystery packages providing they don’t tick. Thus, it was with anticipation that I opened this most recent parcel, postmarked South Australia, and found it to contain a rectangular object. Realising this was a DVD (you can tell by the round shiny thing inside the case), I slid it into my Mac’s disk slot and discovered it was about an orchard… about a particular kind of orchard. Watching it, it dawned on me that this was the work of a particularly notorious Adelaide gang of freerangers, but more on this gang later and its links to another media product of Adelaide’s urban food subculture.
Sydney meeting puts AFSA on food advocacy map
February 12, 2011 | Russ GraysonCitizens, community organisations, small farmers, food advocacy and eduction organisations, heath interests, small business and social enterprise working in food production, distribution and waste management have a new voice in Australia now that the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) has taken steps to set itself up as a formal agency.
