0:00:00.586,0:00:03.424
The will to live life differently can start

0:00:03.424,0:00:06.870
in some of the most unusual places.

0:00:06.870,0:00:08.816
This is where I come from, Todmorden.

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It's a market town in the north of England,

0:00:10.836,0:00:13.507
15,000 people, between Leeds and Manchester,

0:00:13.507,0:00:15.580
fairly normal market town.

0:00:15.580,0:00:17.750
It used to look like this,

0:00:17.750,0:00:20.498
and now it's more like this,

0:00:20.498,0:00:24.223
with fruit and veg and herbs sprouting up all over the place.

0:00:24.223,0:00:28.940
We call it propaganda gardening. (Laughter)

0:00:28.940,0:00:31.955
Corner row railway, station car park,

0:00:31.955,0:00:35.707
front of a health center, people's front gardens,

0:00:35.707,0:00:39.244
and even in front of the police station. (Laughter)

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We've got edible canal towpaths,

0:00:42.234,0:00:44.400
and we've got sprouting cemeteries.

0:00:44.400,0:00:50.901
The soil is extremely good. (Laughter)

0:00:50.901,0:00:53.144
We've even invented a new form of tourism.

0:00:53.144,0:00:56.751
It's called vegetable tourism, and believe it or not,

0:00:56.751,0:01:00.675
people come from all over the world to poke around in our raised beds,

0:01:00.675,0:01:03.659
even when there's not much growing. (Laughter)

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But it starts a conversation. (Laughter)

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And, you know, we're not doing it because we're bored. (Laughter)

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We're doing it because we want to start a revolution.

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We tried to answer this simple question:

0:01:17.432,0:01:20.322
Can you find a unifying language that cuts across age

0:01:20.322,0:01:24.539
and income and culture that will help people themselves

0:01:24.539,0:01:26.200
find a new way of living,

0:01:26.200,0:01:28.325
see spaces around them differently,

0:01:28.325,0:01:30.928
think about the resources they use differently,

0:01:30.928,0:01:32.921
interact differently?

0:01:32.921,0:01:35.290
Can we find that language?

0:01:35.290,0:01:39.257
And then, can we replicate those actions?

0:01:39.257,0:01:42.015
And the answer would appear to be yes,

0:01:42.015,0:01:45.418
and the language would appear to be food.

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So, three and a half years ago, a few of us

0:01:47.437,0:01:49.056
sat around a kitchen table and

0:01:49.056,0:01:52.424
we just invented the whole thing. (Laughter)

0:01:52.424,0:01:55.661
(Applause)

0:01:55.661,0:01:58.252
We came up with a really simple game plan that we put to a public meeting.

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We did not consult. We did not write a report.

0:02:00.565,0:02:03.140
Enough of all that. (Laughter)

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And we said to that public meeting in Todmorden,

0:02:06.158,0:02:09.104
look, let's imagine that our town

0:02:09.104,0:02:10.860
is focused around three plates:

0:02:10.860,0:02:13.084
a community plate, the way we live our everyday lives;

0:02:13.084,0:02:16.132
a learning plate, what we teach our kids in school

0:02:16.132,0:02:18.893
and what new skills we share amongst ourselves;

0:02:18.893,0:02:22.012
and business, what we do with the pound in our pocket

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and which businesses we choose to support.

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Now, let's imagine those plates agitated

0:02:26.640,0:02:29.280
with community actions around food.

0:02:29.280,0:02:31.521
If we start one of those community plates spinning,

0:02:31.521,0:02:34.905
that's really great, that really starts to empower people,

0:02:34.905,0:02:36.992
but if we can then spin that community plate

0:02:36.992,0:02:39.888
with the learning plate, and then spin it with the business plate,

0:02:39.888,0:02:43.624
we've got a real show there, we've got some action theater.

0:02:43.624,0:02:46.969
We're starting to build resilience ourselves.

0:02:46.969,0:02:50.360
We're starting to reinvent community ourselves,

0:02:50.360,0:02:53.827
and we've done it all without a flipping strategy document.

0:02:53.827,0:02:59.138
(Applause)

0:02:59.138,0:03:01.930
And here's the thing as well.

0:03:01.930,0:03:04.346
We've not asked anybody's permission to do this,

0:03:04.346,0:03:06.639
we're just doing it. (Laughter)

0:03:06.639,0:03:08.400
And we are certainly not waiting for that check

0:03:08.400,0:03:11.138
to drop through the letterbox before we start,

0:03:11.138,0:03:13.470
and most importantly of all, we are not daunted

0:03:13.470,0:03:15.322
by the sophisticated arguments that say,

0:03:15.322,0:03:19.218
"These small actions are meaningless in the face of tomorrow's problems,"

0:03:19.218,0:03:22.886
because I have seen the power of small actions,

0:03:22.886,0:03:24.957
and it is awesome.

0:03:24.957,0:03:28.070
So, back to the public meeting. (Laughter)

0:03:28.070,0:03:30.959
We put that proposition to the meeting, two seconds,

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and then the room exploded.

0:03:32.667,0:03:36.555
I have never, ever experienced anything like that in my life.

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And it's been the same in every single room, in every town

0:03:39.937,0:03:41.492
that we've ever told our story.

0:03:41.492,0:03:45.836
People are ready and respond to the story of food.

0:03:45.836,0:03:48.093
They want positive actions they can engage in,

0:03:48.093,0:03:50.692
and in their bones, they know it's time

0:03:50.692,0:03:52.581
to take personal responsibility

0:03:52.581,0:03:55.152
and invest in more kindness to each other

0:03:55.152,0:03:58.075
and to the environment.

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And since we had that meeting three and a half years ago,

0:04:01.389,0:04:04.639
it's been a heck of a roller coaster.

0:04:04.639,0:04:07.535
We started with a seed swap, really simple stuff,

0:04:07.535,0:04:09.784
and then we took an area of land, a strip on the side

0:04:09.784,0:04:12.286
of our main road, which was a dog toilet, basically,

0:04:12.286,0:04:15.640
and we turned it into a really lovely herb garden.

0:04:15.640,0:04:17.926
We took the corner of the car park in the station

0:04:17.926,0:04:19.661
that you saw, and we made vegetable beds

0:04:19.661,0:04:23.185
for everybody to share and pick from themselves.

0:04:23.185,0:04:24.494
We went to the doctors. We've just had

0:04:24.494,0:04:27.399
a 6-million-pound health center built in Todmorden,

0:04:27.399,0:04:30.087
and for some reason that I cannot comprehend,

0:04:30.087,0:04:33.880
it has been surrounded by prickly plants. (Laughter)

0:04:33.880,0:04:36.969
So we went to the doctors, said, "Would you mind us taking them up?"

0:04:36.969,0:04:39.323
They said, "Absolutely fine, provided you get planning permission

0:04:39.323,0:04:41.245
and you do it in Latin and you do it in triplicate,"

0:04:41.245,0:04:44.035
so we did — (Laughter) — and now there are fruit trees

0:04:44.035,0:04:47.330
and bushes and herbs and vegetables

0:04:47.330,0:04:50.560
around that doctor's surgery.

0:04:50.560,0:04:52.836
And there's been lots of other examples, like the corn

0:04:52.836,0:04:54.692
that was in front of the police station,

0:04:54.692,0:04:56.509
and the old people's home that we've planted it with food

0:04:56.509,0:04:58.481
that they can pick and grow.

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But it isn't just about growing,

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because we all are part of this jigsaw.

0:05:02.736,0:05:05.610
It's about taking those artistic people in your community

0:05:05.610,0:05:07.843
and doing some fabulous designs in those raised beds

0:05:07.843,0:05:09.914
to explain to people what's growing there,

0:05:09.914,0:05:12.130
because there's so many people that don't really recognize

0:05:12.130,0:05:14.018
a vegetable unless it's in a bit of plastic

0:05:14.018,0:05:16.090
with a bit of an instruction packet on the top. (Laughter)

0:05:16.090,0:05:18.986
So we have some people who designed these things,

0:05:18.986,0:05:21.003
"If it looks like this, please don't pick it, but if it looks like this,

0:05:21.003,0:05:22.980
help yourself."

0:05:22.980,0:05:25.849
This is about sharing and investing in kindness.

0:05:25.849,0:05:27.706
And for those people that don't want to do either

0:05:27.706,0:05:29.705
of those things, maybe they can cook,

0:05:29.705,0:05:32.578
so we pick them seasonally and then we go on the street,

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or in the pub, or in the church,

0:05:34.811,0:05:36.443
or wherever people are living their lives.

0:05:36.443,0:05:38.985
This is about us going to the people and saying,

0:05:38.985,0:05:41.394
"We are all part of the local food jigsaw,

0:05:41.394,0:05:44.049
we are all part of a solution."

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And then, because we know we've got vegetable tourists

0:05:46.265,0:05:48.973
and we love them to bits and they're absolutely fantastic,

0:05:48.973,0:05:51.549
we thought, what could we do to give them an even better experience?

0:05:51.549,0:05:53.953
So we invented, without asking, of course,

0:05:53.953,0:05:56.059
the Incredible Edible Green Route.

0:05:56.059,0:05:58.784
And this is a route of exhibition gardens,

0:05:58.784,0:06:03.495
and edible towpaths, and bee-friendly sites, and the story

0:06:03.495,0:06:06.363
of pollinators, and it's a route that we designed

0:06:06.363,0:06:08.969
that takes people through the whole of our town,

0:06:08.969,0:06:12.188
past our cafes and our small shops, through our market,

0:06:12.188,0:06:15.601
not just to and fro from the supermarket,

0:06:15.601,0:06:17.899
and we're hoping that, in changing people's footfall

0:06:17.899,0:06:20.754
around our town, we're also changing their behavior.

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And then there's the second plate, the learning plate.

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Well, we're in partnership with a high school.

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We've created a company. We are designing and building

0:06:29.127,0:06:31.175
an aquaponics unit in some land that was spare

0:06:31.175,0:06:33.082
at the back of the high school, like you do,

0:06:33.082,0:06:35.275
and now we're going to be growing fish and vegetables

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in an orchard with bees,

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and the kids are helping us build that,

0:06:40.082,0:06:42.895
and the kids are on the board, and because the community

0:06:42.895,0:06:44.427
was really keen on working with the high school,

0:06:44.427,0:06:47.795
the high school is now teaching agriculture,

0:06:47.795,0:06:50.911
and because it's teaching agriculture, we started to think,

0:06:50.911,0:06:53.694
how could we then get those kids that never had a qualification

0:06:53.694,0:06:56.245
before in their lives but are really excited about growing,

0:06:56.245,0:06:57.949
how can we give them some more experience?

0:06:57.949,0:06:59.908
So we got some land that was donated

0:06:59.908,0:07:01.166
by a local garden center.

0:07:01.166,0:07:04.500
It was really quite muddy, but in a truly incredible way,

0:07:04.500,0:07:07.110
totally voluntary-led, we have turned that

0:07:07.110,0:07:09.307
into a market garden training center,

0:07:09.307,0:07:12.271
and that is polytunnels and raised beds

0:07:12.271,0:07:14.975
and all the things you need to get the soil under your fingers

0:07:14.975,0:07:17.296
and think maybe there's a job in this for me in the future.

0:07:17.296,0:07:19.504
And because we were doing that, some local academics said,

0:07:19.504,0:07:20.836
"You know, we could help design

0:07:20.836,0:07:22.608
a commercial horticulture course for you.

0:07:22.608,0:07:24.003
There's not one that we know of."

0:07:24.003,0:07:26.647
So they're doing that, and we're going to launch it later this year,

0:07:26.647,0:07:29.232
and it's all an experiment, and it's all voluntary.

0:07:29.232,0:07:30.851
And then there's the third plate,

0:07:30.851,0:07:32.669
because if you walk through an edible landscape,

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and if you're learning new skills, and if you start to get

0:07:35.264,0:07:37.312
interested in what's growing seasonally,

0:07:37.312,0:07:39.224
you might just want to spend more of your own money

0:07:39.224,0:07:41.304
in support of local producers,

0:07:41.304,0:07:43.056
not just veg, but meat and cheese and beer

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and whatever else it might be.

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But then, we're just a community group, you know.

0:07:47.872,0:07:49.830
We're just all volunteers. What could we actually do?

0:07:49.830,0:07:51.580
So we did some really simple things.

0:07:51.580,0:07:53.367
We fundraised, we got some blackboards,

0:07:53.367,0:07:54.537
we put "Incredible Edible" on the top,

0:07:54.537,0:07:56.713
we gave it every market trader that was selling locally,

0:07:56.713,0:07:59.640
and they scribbled on what they were selling in any one week.

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Really popular. People congregated around it.

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Sales were up.

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And then, we had a chat with the farmers, and we said,

0:08:06.740,0:08:07.717
"We're really serious about this,"

0:08:07.717,0:08:10.135
but they didn't actually believe us, so we thought,

0:08:10.135,0:08:12.760
okay, what should we do? I know. If we can create

0:08:12.760,0:08:15.334
a campaign around one product and show them

0:08:15.334,0:08:17.377
there is local loyalty to that product,

0:08:17.377,0:08:19.720
maybe they'll change their mind and see we're serious.

0:08:19.720,0:08:22.711
So we launched a campaign -- because it just amuses me --

0:08:22.711,0:08:24.784
called Every Egg Matters. (Laughter)

0:08:24.784,0:08:28.405
And what we did was we put people on our egg map.

0:08:28.405,0:08:30.556
It's a stylized map of Togmorden.

0:08:30.556,0:08:32.195
Anybody that's selling their excess eggs

0:08:32.195,0:08:34.733
at the garden gate, perfectly legally, to their neighbors,

0:08:34.733,0:08:37.150
we've stuck on there. We started with four,

0:08:37.150,0:08:39.424
and we've now got 64 on, and the result of that was

0:08:39.424,0:08:40.924
that people were then going into shops

0:08:40.924,0:08:43.605
asking for a local Todmorden egg, and the result of that

0:08:43.605,0:08:45.894
was, some farmers upped the amount of flocks they got

0:08:45.894,0:08:48.003
of free range birds, and then they went on to meat birds,

0:08:48.003,0:08:50.584
and although these are really, really small steps,

0:08:50.584,0:08:55.273
that increasing local economic confidence

0:08:55.273,0:08:57.850
is starting to play out in a number of ways,

0:08:57.850,0:08:59.152
and we now have farmers doing cheese

0:08:59.152,0:09:00.941
and they've upped their flocks and rare breed pigs,

0:09:00.941,0:09:02.349
they're doing pasties and pies and things

0:09:02.349,0:09:04.722
that they would have never done before.

0:09:04.722,0:09:07.343
We've got increasing market stalls selling local food,

0:09:07.343,0:09:11.557
and in a survey that local students did for us, 49 percent

0:09:11.557,0:09:14.510
of all food traders in that town said that their bottom line

0:09:14.510,0:09:16.916
had increased because of what we were actually doing.

0:09:16.916,0:09:20.006
And we're just volunteers and it's only an experiment.

0:09:20.006,0:09:21.410
(Laughter)

0:09:21.410,0:09:23.820
Now, none of this is rocket science.

0:09:23.820,0:09:26.699
It certainly is not clever, and it's not original.

0:09:26.699,0:09:30.506
But it is joined up, and it is inclusive.

0:09:30.506,0:09:32.629
This is not a movement for those people

0:09:32.629,0:09:34.551
that are going to sort themselves out anyway.

0:09:34.551,0:09:35.885
This is a movement for everyone.

0:09:37.447,0:09:41.313
We have a motto: If you eat, you're in. (Laughter)

0:09:41.313,0:09:43.228
(Applause)

0:09:47.402,0:09:52.479
Across age, across income, across culture.

0:09:52.479,0:09:56.086
It's been really quite a roller coaster experience,

0:09:56.086,0:09:56.634
but going back to that first question that we asked,

0:09:58.559,0:10:01.818
is it replicable? Yeah. It most certainly is replicable.

0:10:01.818,0:10:04.632
More than 30 towns in England now are spinning

0:10:04.632,0:10:06.760
the Incredible Edible plate.

0:10:06.760,0:10:10.255
Whichever way they want to do it, of their own volition,

0:10:10.255,0:10:12.949
they're trying to make their own lives differently,

0:10:12.949,0:10:15.697
and worldwide, we've got communities across America

0:10:15.697,0:10:17.441
and Japan -- it's incredible, isn't it? I mean,

0:10:17.441,0:10:19.956
America and Japan and New Zealand.

0:10:19.956,0:10:22.480
People after the earthquake in New Zealand visited us

0:10:22.480,0:10:25.531
in order to incorporate some of this public spiritedness

0:10:25.531,0:10:30.183
around local growing into the heart of Christchurch.

0:10:30.183,0:10:33.030
And none of this takes more money

0:10:33.030,0:10:36.157
and none of this demands a bureaucracy,

0:10:36.157,0:10:39.020
but it does demand that you think things differently

0:10:39.020,0:10:42.717
and you are prepared to bend budgets and work programs

0:10:42.717,0:10:44.845
in order to create that supportive framework

0:10:44.845,0:10:47.559
that communities can bounce off.

0:10:47.559,0:10:50.475
And there's some great ideas already in our patch.

0:10:50.475,0:10:53.259
Our local authority has decided to make everywhere

0:10:53.259,0:10:55.921
Incredible Edible, and in support of that

0:10:55.921,0:10:57.406
have decided to do two things.

0:10:57.406,0:11:00.515
First, they're going to create an asset register of spare land

0:11:00.515,0:11:02.746
that they've got, put it in a food bank so that communities

0:11:02.746,0:11:04.482
can use that wherever they live,

0:11:04.482,0:11:06.659
and they're going to underpin that with a license.

0:11:06.659,0:11:09.040
And then they've said to every single one of their workforce,

0:11:09.040,0:11:11.537
if you can, help those communities grow,

0:11:11.537,0:11:13.650
and help them to maintain their spaces.

0:11:13.650,0:11:15.689
Suddenly, we're seeing actions on the ground

0:11:15.689,0:11:17.969
from local government. We're seeing this mainstreamed.

0:11:17.969,0:11:22.394
We are responding creatively at last to what Rio demanded

0:11:22.394,0:11:24.573
of us, and there's lots more you could do.

0:11:24.573,0:11:26.933
I mean, just to list a few. One, please stop putting

0:11:26.933,0:11:30.301
prickly plants around public buildings. It's a waste of space.

0:11:30.301,0:11:33.703
(Laughter) Secondly, please create -- please, please create

0:11:33.703,0:11:36.482
edible landscapes so that our children start to walk

0:11:36.482,0:11:38.665
past their food day in, day out, on our high streets,

0:11:38.665,0:11:41.251
in our parks, wherever that might be.

0:11:41.251,0:11:44.945
Inspire local planners to put the food sites at the heart

0:11:44.945,0:11:48.208
of the town and the city plan, not relegate them

0:11:48.208,0:11:51.528
to the edges of the settlements that nobody can see.

0:11:51.528,0:11:54.345
Encourage all our schools to take this seriously.

0:11:54.345,0:11:56.578
This isn't a second class exercise.

0:11:56.578,0:11:59.546
If we want to inspire the farmers of tomorrow,

0:11:59.546,0:12:02.595
then please let us say to every school,

0:12:02.595,0:12:06.575
create a sense of purpose around the importance

0:12:06.575,0:12:09.375
to the environment, local food and soils.

0:12:09.375,0:12:11.262
Put that at the heart of your school culture,

0:12:11.262,0:12:14.424
and you will create a different generation.

0:12:14.424,0:12:16.863
There are so many things you can do, but ultimately

0:12:16.863,0:12:19.151
this is about something really simple.

0:12:19.151,0:12:22.776
Through an organic process, through

0:12:22.776,0:12:27.063
an increasing recognition of the power of small actions,

0:12:27.063,0:12:30.888
we are starting, at last, to believe in ourselves again,

0:12:30.888,0:12:34.729
and to believe in our capacity, each and every one of us,

0:12:34.729,0:12:39.122
to build a different and a kinder future,

0:12:39.122,0:12:41.545
and in my book, that's incredible.

0:12:41.545,0:12:45.410
Thank you. (Applause)

0:12:45.410,0:12:55.902
(Applause)

0:12:55.902,0:12:59.724
Thank you very much. (Applause)