Will you be able to feed your family in ten or fifteen years? Mass starvation in industrialized countries due to climate change – in the near future – is not something we read or hear about. But it's a real probability, according to Michael Brownlee, author of Taking Back Our Food Supply: How to Lead the Local Food Revolution to Reclaim a Healthy Future. In this fascinating conversation Brownlee explains that not only is the global industrial food system the largest contributor to climate change; it also will not be able to feed us as we weather the storm.

In the face of this, Michael believes "we need to stop participating in the current system, and build regional, localized food systems…. Building our own regional food system is a matter of life and death." And that involves much more than farmer's markets and CSAs. Brownlee also wrote The Local Food Revolution: How Humanity Will Feed Itself in Uncertain Times, published in 2015. He and partner Lynette Marie Hanthorn have launched the online Local Food Academy, to identify, train and support leaders of the local food revolution.

The newest book, Taking Back Our Food Supply, will be available in book stores beginning around Earth Day (April 22, 2019).

Michael Brownlee aptly described our situation in this paragraph from The Local Food Revolution:

"Today we are living in a moment of historic transition. We are moving from a food and farming system that erodes soil, wastes water, diminishes biodiversity, wastes fossil fuels, spews carbon, relies on mechanization, modifies genes, pollutes water and air, poisons the land, depletes the spirit, destroys community, and creates economic disparity ... to a food and farming system that restores and rebuilds soil, recycles and conserves water, increases biodiversity, sequesters carbon, produces its own energy, relies on human labor, breeds for resilience, saves seeds, purifies the water and the air, heals the land, feeds the spirit, builds community, and creates economic parity."

Audition to become a co-host of the GrowthBusters podcast.

LINKS:

Taking Back Our Food Supply by Michael Brownlee

Local Food Academy

The Local Food Revolution by Michael Brownlee

Michael Brownlee episodes on Conversation Earth radio series & podcast:

Surviving a Hostile Climate on Local Food

Local Food Revolution

Running Out of Gas - GrowthBusters Episode 26

Forum - Tackling the Population Taboo: Creating a Sustainable Future for Children

Writing by Michael Brownlee:

Igniting a Revolution in the Way Humanity Feeds Itself

Reclaiming the Future: How to Lead the Local Food Revolution in Your Community (free e-book)

GrowthBusters Earth Day Screenings:

Colorado Springs, CO – April 8 at the Tim Gill Center for Public Media

Pittsboro, North Carolina – April 23 at the Chatham Community Library

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