Incredible Edible, TodmordenCambridge Education is represented on the strategic board of this pioneering community sustainability programme. Incredible Edible was established by four local citizens in response to growing concern about how to involve all of the community in practical activity in response to the environmental crisis. Rather than focusing on the big picture issues of climate change, population growth, energy and water depletion, Incredible Edible has specifically identified food as a simple yet powerful way to connect people more closely with the food they eat, to choices they make about their life-style, and the realities of consumerism and its consequences. Challenging ExpectationsIncredible Edible is an action-based programme, adopting the principle of ready, fire, aim! It continually challenges expectations and encourages innovative, creative and illustrative expose to the important themes of our time. Its primary aim is to increase the amount of food grown and consumed in the town. To do this, Incredible Edible challenges people’s expectations about the built environment, by growing food across an entire range of locations in the town and turning them into food sources. There are more than 150 growing spaces across the town. Over 1000 fruit and nut trees have been planted for long-term sustainable food sources, as well as many fruit and vegetable planters. These are adopted by different people and community groups and businesses through a shared protocol agreement which can be viewed at the programme website. Community InvolvementTo achieve this level of engagement it is necessary to involve the community, the local businesses, and to learn new ways of growing, producing, preparing and managing the food sources. Incredible Edible has deliberately set out to challenge the idea that any one organisation or approach will be sufficient in tackling the challenges we face in creating a sustainable future. Instead, its design is such that it continually asks people in the community to think about how they might get involved. This opens up intergenerational learning, where older members of the community can engage with younger people, for example in the community bee-keeping project, the age range runs from 7 - 82 years in the group. The programme is adopting a number of ex-council sites which are no longer in use. It will manage these as urban agriculture hubs where a number of unemployed people are combining with Incredible Edible to design and create a permaculture site. The intention is to provide training and development opportunities and serve as part of a skills academy which Incredible Edible will lead, in partnership with Business in the Community and other interested groups. At present, the programme is managed through a strategic board, and through an activists council. The day-to-day management of the programme is supported by two part-time Food Inspirers, and much of the physical infrastructure work is carried out by students on the modern apprenticeship scheme, and participants of the restorative justice programme, as well as drawing upon a considerable community of local volunteers. Incredible EnergyThe programme is partnered with Incredible Energy, a Community Interest Company (with board level representation from Cambridge Education) aimed at utilising the sustainable water and solar power sources. Capital raised from the generation of energy is to be used to facilitate other sustainable and renewable energy based programmes in the town. Incredible Edible has attracted high levels of national and international interest. A recent visit from Prince Charles during his ‘seeing is believing’ tour generated a direct link with Business in the Community, and with government ministers interested in Big Society initiatives. There is a steady stream of school groups and health service groups coming to see how the programme operates, with a view to taking the ideas to their own settings. The Incredible Edible message, we have learnt, is Incredibly Spreadable!
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