Health, hunger, organics, toxics, food distribution – managing our food resources is a big challenge that we need to fix.

Enjoy this conversation with Save Food panel moderator Rachel Weidinger (@rachelannyes)

Watch the Save Food panel on the Qik Stream as it happened

Get the whole save food story by watching the panel as I recorded it on Qik.

Save Food Panel Summary

This SxSW panel discussed how nonprofits and social entrepreneurs are making access to sustainable food easier with shortcodes, social networks, advocacy tools, and location-based platforms. The founder of FarmsReach shared her vision for this web platform for local, sustainable food. We discussed the evolution of Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch to mobile access, and the recent launch of their iPhone app. The advocacy work of the American Farmland Trust was covered, including some surprises about SEM. We shares how the Sierra Club’s global warming portal with integrated social network–Climate Crossroads–is using food to engage users in information sharing and social networking.

Save Food Links

• Learn more about Save food by following the conversation on Twitter at #savefood.
• http://savefood.wikispaces.com – one stop destination to read about and contribute information to supplement panel presentations and learn more about SaveFood.
• Sierra Club project mashes together information and social networking community: Climate Crossroads
• FarmsReach connecting farmers with buyers in their local community (SF Bay area beta)
• Seafood Watch iPhone app

It’s locavore, a dieter who endeavors to get their food from locally available sources, usually within 100 Miles – as described in the book, 100 Mile Diet. . . . and people from all over Canada are getting involved in eating locally. In our region, a new group – Near North Locavores has been started by Becca Mullins and others including Marlo Nikkila who started a Near North Locavores Facebook Group.

The locavore movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to produce their own food. The general principle is that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Local grown food is an environmentally friendly means of obtaining food, since supermarkets that import their food use more fossil fuels and non-renewable resources.

When you go to the grocery store, don’t just look for organic, look for local. If it takes less fuel to get the food to your plate, you are making food choices that have less impact on climate change. Be sure to ask your green grocer to stock food grown by your neighbours, or at least in your province of Canada.

Also, as I often focus on during my presentations, the use of bottled water has significant environmental consequences. One report suggested that as much oil as 1/4 of the volume of water in a bottle, just to get the water to you. If you don’t trust the water coming from your tap, isn’t it time you brought these concerns to your municipal government or provincial representatives?

For goodness sake, let’s drink the water from our tap and support local agriculture.

• Time Magazine Article on Locavores and the benefits of eating locally.
• NY Times article on Eating Locally.