On Monday 10th September over 100 people gathered at the Council House for the Birmingham Sustainability Forum. The topic was Feeding the City.

There were four speakers. I, Kate Cooper, kicked things off with some hard-nosed facts and figures about what it takes to feed this city, including that we Brummies polish off 2 billion calories a day, or nearly three-quarters of trillion a year. I did say how important growing food in a city is for all sorts of reasons, social, civic, health, etc. My presentation is below as well as here.

The Jayne Bradley spoke about the amazing Edible Eastside and how she’s transformed a scrappy piece of industrial waste ground into somewhere lovely — and productive.

Clare Devereaux was up next, speaking about what makes a sustainable city. She’s from foodmatters.org from Brighton and Hove.

The last speaker was Linda Hindle a dietician from the public health authority. She spoke tellingly about obesity, and how that is already a big health issue for the UK — and it is increasing. Her presentation is below as well as via link.

After the speakers, the time was handed over to the audience. Each table of people was asked to discuss a different topic, and return with a key action. A summary of their feedback to the plenary is here.

Kate Cooper’s presentation:

Lind Hindle’s presentation: