WEBVTT 00:00:00.586 --> 00:00:03.424 The will to live life differently can start 00:00:03.424 --> 00:00:06.870 in some of the most unusual places. 00:00:06.870 --> 00:00:08.816 This is where I come from, Todmorden. 00:00:08.816 --> 00:00:10.836 It's a market town in the north of England, 00:00:10.836 --> 00:00:13.507 15,000 people, between Leeds and Manchester, 00:00:13.507 --> 00:00:15.580 fairly normal market town. 00:00:15.580 --> 00:00:17.750 It used to look like this, 00:00:17.750 --> 00:00:20.498 and now it's more like this, 00:00:20.498 --> 00:00:24.223 with fruit and veg and herbs sprouting up all over the place. 00:00:24.223 --> 00:00:28.940 We call it propaganda gardening. (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:31.955 Corner row railway, station car park, 00:00:31.955 --> 00:00:35.707 front of a health center, people's front gardens, 00:00:35.707 --> 00:00:39.244 and even in front of the police station. (Laughter) 00:00:39.244 --> 00:00:42.234 We've got edible canal towpaths, 00:00:42.234 --> 00:00:44.400 and we've got sprouting cemeteries. 00:00:44.400 --> 00:00:50.901 The soil is extremely good. (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:50.901 --> 00:00:53.144 We've even invented a new form of tourism. 00:00:53.144 --> 00:00:56.751 It's called vegetable tourism, and believe it or not, 00:00:56.751 --> 00:01:00.675 people come from all over the world to poke around in our raised beds, 00:01:00.675 --> 00:01:03.659 even when there's not much growing. (Laughter) 00:01:03.659 --> 00:01:07.289 But it starts a conversation. (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:07.289 --> 00:01:11.297 And, you know, we're not doing it because we're bored. (Laughter) 00:01:11.297 --> 00:01:16.114 We're doing it because we want to start a revolution. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:16.114 --> 00:01:17.432 We tried to answer this simple question: 00:01:17.432 --> 00:01:20.322 Can you find a unifying language that cuts across age 00:01:20.322 --> 00:01:24.539 and income and culture that will help people themselves 00:01:24.539 --> 00:01:26.200 find a new way of living, 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:28.325 see spaces around them differently, 00:01:28.325 --> 00:01:30.928 think about the resources they use differently, 00:01:30.928 --> 00:01:32.921 interact differently? 00:01:32.921 --> 00:01:35.290 Can we find that language? 00:01:35.290 --> 00:01:39.257 And then, can we replicate those actions? 00:01:39.257 --> 00:01:42.015 And the answer would appear to be yes, 00:01:42.015 --> 00:01:45.418 and the language would appear to be food. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:45.418 --> 00:01:47.437 So, three and a half years ago, a few of us 00:01:47.437 --> 00:01:49.056 sat around a kitchen table and 00:01:49.056 --> 00:01:52.424 we just invented the whole thing. (Laughter) 00:01:52.424 --> 00:01:55.661 (Applause) 00:01:55.661 --> 00:01:58.252 We came up with a really simple game plan that we put to a public meeting. 00:01:58.252 --> 00:02:00.565 We did not consult. We did not write a report. 00:02:00.565 --> 00:02:03.140 Enough of all that. (Laughter) 00:02:03.140 --> 00:02:06.158 And we said to that public meeting in Todmorden, 00:02:06.158 --> 00:02:09.104 look, let's imagine that our town 00:02:09.104 --> 00:02:10.860 is focused around three plates: 00:02:10.860 --> 00:02:13.084 a community plate, the way we live our everyday lives; 00:02:13.084 --> 00:02:16.132 a learning plate, what we teach our kids in school 00:02:16.132 --> 00:02:18.893 and what new skills we share amongst ourselves; 00:02:18.893 --> 00:02:22.012 and business, what we do with the pound in our pocket 00:02:22.012 --> 00:02:23.833 and which businesses we choose to support. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:23.833 --> 00:02:26.640 Now, let's imagine those plates agitated 00:02:26.640 --> 00:02:29.280 with community actions around food. 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:31.521 If we start one of those community plates spinning, 00:02:31.521 --> 00:02:34.905 that's really great, that really starts to empower people, 00:02:34.905 --> 00:02:36.992 but if we can then spin that community plate 00:02:36.992 --> 00:02:39.888 with the learning plate, and then spin it with the business plate, 00:02:39.888 --> 00:02:43.624 we've got a real show there, we've got some action theater. 00:02:43.624 --> 00:02:46.969 We're starting to build resilience ourselves. 00:02:46.969 --> 00:02:50.360 We're starting to reinvent community ourselves, 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:53.827 and we've done it all without a flipping strategy document. 00:02:53.827 --> 00:02:59.138 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:59.138 --> 00:03:01.930 And here's the thing as well. 00:03:01.930 --> 00:03:04.346 We've not asked anybody's permission to do this, 00:03:04.346 --> 00:03:06.639 we're just doing it. (Laughter) 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:08.400 And we are certainly not waiting for that check 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:11.138 to drop through the letterbox before we start, 00:03:11.138 --> 00:03:13.470 and most importantly of all, we are not daunted 00:03:13.470 --> 00:03:15.322 by the sophisticated arguments that say, 00:03:15.322 --> 00:03:19.218 "These small actions are meaningless in the face of tomorrow's problems," 00:03:19.218 --> 00:03:22.886 because I have seen the power of small actions, 00:03:22.886 --> 00:03:24.957 and it is awesome. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:24.957 --> 00:03:28.070 So, back to the public meeting. (Laughter) 00:03:28.070 --> 00:03:30.959 We put that proposition to the meeting, two seconds, 00:03:30.959 --> 00:03:32.667 and then the room exploded. 00:03:32.667 --> 00:03:36.555 I have never, ever experienced anything like that in my life. 00:03:36.555 --> 00:03:39.937 And it's been the same in every single room, in every town 00:03:39.937 --> 00:03:41.492 that we've ever told our story. 00:03:41.492 --> 00:03:45.836 People are ready and respond to the story of food. 00:03:45.836 --> 00:03:48.093 They want positive actions they can engage in, 00:03:48.093 --> 00:03:50.692 and in their bones, they know it's time 00:03:50.692 --> 00:03:52.581 to take personal responsibility 00:03:52.581 --> 00:03:55.152 and invest in more kindness to each other 00:03:55.152 --> 00:03:58.075 and to the environment. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:58.075 --> 00:04:01.389 And since we had that meeting three and a half years ago, 00:04:01.389 --> 00:04:04.639 it's been a heck of a roller coaster. 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:07.535 We started with a seed swap, really simple stuff, 00:04:07.535 --> 00:04:09.784 and then we took an area of land, a strip on the side 00:04:09.784 --> 00:04:12.286 of our main road, which was a dog toilet, basically, 00:04:12.286 --> 00:04:15.640 and we turned it into a really lovely herb garden. 00:04:15.640 --> 00:04:17.926 We took the corner of the car park in the station 00:04:17.926 --> 00:04:19.661 that you saw, and we made vegetable beds 00:04:19.661 --> 00:04:23.185 for everybody to share and pick from themselves. 00:04:23.185 --> 00:04:24.494 We went to the doctors. We've just had 00:04:24.494 --> 00:04:27.399 a 6-million-pound health center built in Todmorden, 00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:30.087 and for some reason that I cannot comprehend, 00:04:30.087 --> 00:04:33.880 it has been surrounded by prickly plants. (Laughter) 00:04:33.880 --> 00:04:36.969 So we went to the doctors, said, "Would you mind us taking them up?" 00:04:36.969 --> 00:04:39.323 They said, "Absolutely fine, provided you get planning permission 00:04:39.323 --> 00:04:41.245 and you do it in Latin and you do it in triplicate," 00:04:41.245 --> 00:04:44.035 so we did — (Laughter) — and now there are fruit trees 00:04:44.035 --> 00:04:47.330 and bushes and herbs and vegetables 00:04:47.330 --> 00:04:50.560 around that doctor's surgery. 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:52.836 And there's been lots of other examples, like the corn 00:04:52.836 --> 00:04:54.692 that was in front of the police station, 00:04:54.692 --> 00:04:56.509 and the old people's home that we've planted it with food 00:04:56.509 --> 00:04:58.481 that they can pick and grow. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:58.481 --> 00:05:00.191 But it isn't just about growing, 00:05:00.191 --> 00:05:02.736 because we all are part of this jigsaw. 00:05:02.736 --> 00:05:05.610 It's about taking those artistic people in your community 00:05:05.610 --> 00:05:07.843 and doing some fabulous designs in those raised beds 00:05:07.843 --> 00:05:09.914 to explain to people what's growing there, 00:05:09.914 --> 00:05:12.130 because there's so many people that don't really recognize 00:05:12.130 --> 00:05:14.018 a vegetable unless it's in a bit of plastic 00:05:14.018 --> 00:05:16.090 with a bit of an instruction packet on the top. (Laughter) 00:05:16.090 --> 00:05:18.986 So we have some people who designed these things, 00:05:18.986 --> 00:05:21.003 "If it looks like this, please don't pick it, but if it looks like this, 00:05:21.003 --> 00:05:22.980 help yourself." 00:05:22.980 --> 00:05:25.849 This is about sharing and investing in kindness. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:25.849 --> 00:05:27.706 And for those people that don't want to do either 00:05:27.706 --> 00:05:29.705 of those things, maybe they can cook, 00:05:29.705 --> 00:05:32.578 so we pick them seasonally and then we go on the street, 00:05:32.578 --> 00:05:34.811 or in the pub, or in the church, 00:05:34.811 --> 00:05:36.443 or wherever people are living their lives. 00:05:36.443 --> 00:05:38.985 This is about us going to the people and saying, 00:05:38.985 --> 00:05:41.394 "We are all part of the local food jigsaw, 00:05:41.394 --> 00:05:44.049 we are all part of a solution." NOTE Paragraph 00:05:44.049 --> 00:05:46.265 And then, because we know we've got vegetable tourists 00:05:46.265 --> 00:05:48.973 and we love them to bits and they're absolutely fantastic, 00:05:48.973 --> 00:05:51.549 we thought, what could we do to give them an even better experience? 00:05:51.549 --> 00:05:53.953 So we invented, without asking, of course, 00:05:53.953 --> 00:05:56.059 the Incredible Edible Green Route. 00:05:56.059 --> 00:05:58.784 And this is a route of exhibition gardens, 00:05:58.784 --> 00:06:03.495 and edible towpaths, and bee-friendly sites, and the story 00:06:03.495 --> 00:06:06.363 of pollinators, and it's a route that we designed 00:06:06.363 --> 00:06:08.969 that takes people through the whole of our town, 00:06:08.969 --> 00:06:12.188 past our cafes and our small shops, through our market, 00:06:12.188 --> 00:06:15.601 not just to and fro from the supermarket, 00:06:15.601 --> 00:06:17.899 and we're hoping that, in changing people's footfall 00:06:17.899 --> 00:06:20.754 around our town, we're also changing their behavior. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:20.754 --> 00:06:24.474 And then there's the second plate, the learning plate. 00:06:24.474 --> 00:06:26.054 Well, we're in partnership with a high school. 00:06:26.054 --> 00:06:29.127 We've created a company. We are designing and building 00:06:29.127 --> 00:06:31.175 an aquaponics unit in some land that was spare 00:06:31.175 --> 00:06:33.082 at the back of the high school, like you do, 00:06:33.082 --> 00:06:35.275 and now we're going to be growing fish and vegetables 00:06:35.275 --> 00:06:37.824 in an orchard with bees, 00:06:37.824 --> 00:06:40.082 and the kids are helping us build that, 00:06:40.082 --> 00:06:42.895 and the kids are on the board, and because the community 00:06:42.895 --> 00:06:44.427 was really keen on working with the high school, 00:06:44.427 --> 00:06:47.795 the high school is now teaching agriculture, 00:06:47.795 --> 00:06:50.911 and because it's teaching agriculture, we started to think, 00:06:50.911 --> 00:06:53.694 how could we then get those kids that never had a qualification 00:06:53.694 --> 00:06:56.245 before in their lives but are really excited about growing, 00:06:56.245 --> 00:06:57.949 how can we give them some more experience? NOTE Paragraph 00:06:57.949 --> 00:06:59.908 So we got some land that was donated 00:06:59.908 --> 00:07:01.166 by a local garden center. 00:07:01.166 --> 00:07:04.500 It was really quite muddy, but in a truly incredible way, 00:07:04.500 --> 00:07:07.110 totally voluntary-led, we have turned that 00:07:07.110 --> 00:07:09.307 into a market garden training center, 00:07:09.307 --> 00:07:12.271 and that is polytunnels and raised beds 00:07:12.271 --> 00:07:14.975 and all the things you need to get the soil under your fingers 00:07:14.975 --> 00:07:17.296 and think maybe there's a job in this for me in the future. 00:07:17.296 --> 00:07:19.504 And because we were doing that, some local academics said, 00:07:19.504 --> 00:07:20.836 "You know, we could help design 00:07:20.836 --> 00:07:22.608 a commercial horticulture course for you. 00:07:22.608 --> 00:07:24.003 There's not one that we know of." 00:07:24.003 --> 00:07:26.647 So they're doing that, and we're going to launch it later this year, 00:07:26.647 --> 00:07:29.232 and it's all an experiment, and it's all voluntary. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:29.232 --> 00:07:30.851 And then there's the third plate, 00:07:30.851 --> 00:07:32.669 because if you walk through an edible landscape, 00:07:32.669 --> 00:07:35.264 and if you're learning new skills, and if you start to get 00:07:35.264 --> 00:07:37.312 interested in what's growing seasonally, 00:07:37.312 --> 00:07:39.224 you might just want to spend more of your own money 00:07:39.224 --> 00:07:41.304 in support of local producers, 00:07:41.304 --> 00:07:43.056 not just veg, but meat and cheese and beer 00:07:43.056 --> 00:07:45.135 and whatever else it might be. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:45.135 --> 00:07:47.872 But then, we're just a community group, you know. 00:07:47.872 --> 00:07:49.830 We're just all volunteers. What could we actually do? 00:07:49.830 --> 00:07:51.580 So we did some really simple things. 00:07:51.580 --> 00:07:53.367 We fundraised, we got some blackboards, 00:07:53.367 --> 00:07:54.537 we put "Incredible Edible" on the top, 00:07:54.537 --> 00:07:56.713 we gave it every market trader that was selling locally, 00:07:56.713 --> 00:07:59.640 and they scribbled on what they were selling in any one week. 00:07:59.640 --> 00:08:02.096 Really popular. People congregated around it. 00:08:02.096 --> 00:08:03.744 Sales were up. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:03.744 --> 00:08:06.740 And then, we had a chat with the farmers, and we said, 00:08:06.740 --> 00:08:07.717 "We're really serious about this," 00:08:07.717 --> 00:08:10.135 but they didn't actually believe us, so we thought, 00:08:10.135 --> 00:08:12.760 okay, what should we do? I know. If we can create 00:08:12.760 --> 00:08:15.334 a campaign around one product and show them 00:08:15.334 --> 00:08:17.377 there is local loyalty to that product, 00:08:17.377 --> 00:08:19.720 maybe they'll change their mind and see we're serious. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:19.720 --> 00:08:22.711 So we launched a campaign -- because it just amuses me -- 00:08:22.711 --> 00:08:24.784 called Every Egg Matters. (Laughter) 00:08:24.784 --> 00:08:28.405 And what we did was we put people on our egg map. 00:08:28.405 --> 00:08:30.556 It's a stylized map of Togmorden. 00:08:30.556 --> 00:08:32.195 Anybody that's selling their excess eggs 00:08:32.195 --> 00:08:34.733 at the garden gate, perfectly legally, to their neighbors, 00:08:34.733 --> 00:08:37.150 we've stuck on there. We started with four, 00:08:37.150 --> 00:08:39.424 and we've now got 64 on, and the result of that was 00:08:39.424 --> 00:08:40.924 that people were then going into shops 00:08:40.924 --> 00:08:43.605 asking for a local Todmorden egg, and the result of that 00:08:43.605 --> 00:08:45.894 was, some farmers upped the amount of flocks they got 00:08:45.894 --> 00:08:48.003 of free range birds, and then they went on to meat birds, 00:08:48.003 --> 00:08:50.584 and although these are really, really small steps, 00:08:50.584 --> 00:08:55.273 that increasing local economic confidence 00:08:55.273 --> 00:08:57.850 is starting to play out in a number of ways, 00:08:57.850 --> 00:08:59.152 and we now have farmers doing cheese 00:08:59.152 --> 00:09:00.941 and they've upped their flocks and rare breed pigs, 00:09:00.941 --> 00:09:02.349 they're doing pasties and pies and things 00:09:02.349 --> 00:09:04.722 that they would have never done before. 00:09:04.722 --> 00:09:07.343 We've got increasing market stalls selling local food, 00:09:07.343 --> 00:09:11.557 and in a survey that local students did for us, 49 percent 00:09:11.557 --> 00:09:14.510 of all food traders in that town said that their bottom line 00:09:14.510 --> 00:09:16.916 had increased because of what we were actually doing. 00:09:16.916 --> 00:09:20.006 And we're just volunteers and it's only an experiment. 00:09:20.006 --> 00:09:21.410 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:09:21.410 --> 00:09:23.820 Now, none of this is rocket science. 00:09:23.820 --> 00:09:26.699 It certainly is not clever, and it's not original. 00:09:26.699 --> 00:09:30.506 But it is joined up, and it is inclusive. 00:09:30.506 --> 00:09:32.629 This is not a movement for those people 00:09:32.629 --> 00:09:34.551 that are going to sort themselves out anyway. 00:09:34.551 --> 00:09:35.885 This is a movement for everyone. 00:09:37.447 --> 00:09:41.313 We have a motto: If you eat, you're in. (Laughter) 00:09:41.313 --> 00:09:43.228 (Applause) 00:09:47.402 --> 00:09:52.479 Across age, across income, across culture. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:52.479 --> 00:09:56.086 It's been really quite a roller coaster experience, 00:09:56.086 --> 00:09:56.634 but going back to that first question that we asked, 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:01.818 is it replicable? Yeah. It most certainly is replicable. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:01.818 --> 00:10:04.632 More than 30 towns in England now are spinning 00:10:04.632 --> 00:10:06.760 the Incredible Edible plate. 00:10:06.760 --> 00:10:10.255 Whichever way they want to do it, of their own volition, 00:10:10.255 --> 00:10:12.949 they're trying to make their own lives differently, 00:10:12.949 --> 00:10:15.697 and worldwide, we've got communities across America 00:10:15.697 --> 00:10:17.441 and Japan -- it's incredible, isn't it? I mean, 00:10:17.441 --> 00:10:19.956 America and Japan and New Zealand. 00:10:19.956 --> 00:10:22.480 People after the earthquake in New Zealand visited us 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:25.531 in order to incorporate some of this public spiritedness 00:10:25.531 --> 00:10:30.183 around local growing into the heart of Christchurch. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:30.183 --> 00:10:33.030 And none of this takes more money 00:10:33.030 --> 00:10:36.157 and none of this demands a bureaucracy, 00:10:36.157 --> 00:10:39.020 but it does demand that you think things differently 00:10:39.020 --> 00:10:42.717 and you are prepared to bend budgets and work programs 00:10:42.717 --> 00:10:44.845 in order to create that supportive framework 00:10:44.845 --> 00:10:47.559 that communities can bounce off. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:50.475 And there's some great ideas already in our patch. 00:10:50.475 --> 00:10:53.259 Our local authority has decided to make everywhere 00:10:53.259 --> 00:10:55.921 Incredible Edible, and in support of that 00:10:55.921 --> 00:10:57.406 have decided to do two things. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:57.406 --> 00:11:00.515 First, they're going to create an asset register of spare land 00:11:00.515 --> 00:11:02.746 that they've got, put it in a food bank so that communities 00:11:02.746 --> 00:11:04.482 can use that wherever they live, 00:11:04.482 --> 00:11:06.659 and they're going to underpin that with a license. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:06.659 --> 00:11:09.040 And then they've said to every single one of their workforce, 00:11:09.040 --> 00:11:11.537 if you can, help those communities grow, 00:11:11.537 --> 00:11:13.650 and help them to maintain their spaces. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:13.650 --> 00:11:15.689 Suddenly, we're seeing actions on the ground 00:11:15.689 --> 00:11:17.969 from local government. We're seeing this mainstreamed. 00:11:17.969 --> 00:11:22.394 We are responding creatively at last to what Rio demanded 00:11:22.394 --> 00:11:24.573 of us, and there's lots more you could do. 00:11:24.573 --> 00:11:26.933 I mean, just to list a few. One, please stop putting 00:11:26.933 --> 00:11:30.301 prickly plants around public buildings. It's a waste of space. 00:11:30.301 --> 00:11:33.703 (Laughter) Secondly, please create -- please, please create 00:11:33.703 --> 00:11:36.482 edible landscapes so that our children start to walk 00:11:36.482 --> 00:11:38.665 past their food day in, day out, on our high streets, 00:11:38.665 --> 00:11:41.251 in our parks, wherever that might be. 00:11:41.251 --> 00:11:44.945 Inspire local planners to put the food sites at the heart 00:11:44.945 --> 00:11:48.208 of the town and the city plan, not relegate them 00:11:48.208 --> 00:11:51.528 to the edges of the settlements that nobody can see. 00:11:51.528 --> 00:11:54.345 Encourage all our schools to take this seriously. 00:11:54.345 --> 00:11:56.578 This isn't a second class exercise. 00:11:56.578 --> 00:11:59.546 If we want to inspire the farmers of tomorrow, 00:11:59.546 --> 00:12:02.595 then please let us say to every school, 00:12:02.595 --> 00:12:06.575 create a sense of purpose around the importance 00:12:06.575 --> 00:12:09.375 to the environment, local food and soils. 00:12:09.375 --> 00:12:11.262 Put that at the heart of your school culture, 00:12:11.262 --> 00:12:14.424 and you will create a different generation. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:14.424 --> 00:12:16.863 There are so many things you can do, but ultimately 00:12:16.863 --> 00:12:19.151 this is about something really simple. 00:12:19.151 --> 00:12:22.776 Through an organic process, through 00:12:22.776 --> 00:12:27.063 an increasing recognition of the power of small actions, 00:12:27.063 --> 00:12:30.888 we are starting, at last, to believe in ourselves again, 00:12:30.888 --> 00:12:34.729 and to believe in our capacity, each and every one of us, 00:12:34.729 --> 00:12:39.122 to build a different and a kinder future, 00:12:39.122 --> 00:12:41.545 and in my book, that's incredible. 00:12:41.545 --> 00:12:45.410 Thank you. (Applause) 00:12:45.410 --> 00:12:55.902 (Applause) 00:12:55.902 --> 00:12:59.724 Thank you very much. (Applause)