Next on: 31st January 2012, from 8pm
Venue: Palate Palette
Jalan Mesui (off Jalan Nagasari, behind Hotel Istana)
This month we welcome Michel and Jude Fanton from Byron Bay, Australia. They started The Seed Saver’s Network in 1986 with the aim of preserving the genetic diversity of plant varieties.
With our industrialised food system, most of us have lost touch with where our food comes from. There are now only a handful of companies that own our food supply, and Monsanto GMO crops cover more than 1,000,000 km2 of the planet’s surface.
Surrounded by nutritionally-depleted foods, chemical additives and the tendency for the health industry to rely upon pharmaceutical drugs to treat what's wrong with us, we are a long way from the founding father of modern medicine’s edict - ‘Let thy Food be thy Medicine and thy Medicine be thy Food’ (Hippocrates).
The basic answer to many of today's problems with poor-quality corporate-bred vegetables is quite simple: grow your own and appreciate the rewards of a simple kitchen garden! Preserving local and traditional seed varieties is incredibly important to having good food on the table.
The Seed Saver’s Network focuses on community-based work. Michel and Jude have encouraged people across Australia to form their own seed saving groups (there are now over 100 local seed networks across Australia), they have authored and published 3 books (with their Seed Saver’s Handbook having been translated into 5 languages), produced 2 documentary films, given training and presentations in 37 countries, and, in the course of this work, helped to locate, multiply and distribute many thousands of local food plant varieties that may otherwise have disappeared.
Michel and Jude are here to launch a Malaysian chapter of the Seed Saver’s network. Come to hear about this and more on why and how they do this work at Green Drinks next Tuesday.
ALSO... would be very grateful if you could take the time to fill in this brief survey: http://app.fluidsurveys.com/surveys/counterpoint/green-drinks-jan-2012/
Many thanks
Steve
PS Please pass this on... NOTE: Although the word 'Green' appears in Green Drinks, this group is a sustainability group... as opposed to a strictly 'environmentalism' group... so social justice concerns matter (its all inter-related) as much as traditional 'green' ones!Thanks
WHO:
Anyone with an interest in local and international environmental and sustainability issues - all ages, backgrounds and groups - non-profits, academia, government, small business, big business, self-employed, volunteers, students, concerned citizens, curious people... and everything in between. T-Shirt or a suit, come as you are. Call in for 10 minutes or stay as long as you like. You don't even to have a drink to be a Green Drinker!
WHY:
Fun, contacts, drinks, info, gossip, inspiration, business, and pleasure.
WHEN:
The last Tuesday of every month, from 8pm
WHERE:
The Apartment, KLCC (by the park and fountain), Lot 139 Suria KLCC (the shopping centre at the Petronas Twin Towers)
COST:
FREE! No fees. Buy your own drinks... or practice the art of persuassion on a friend!
HOW IT WORKS:
Step 1: Arrive and get a drink and/or food (Note: The Apartment kindly provide us with complimentary finger food... but grab the menu if you want something more substantial).
Step 2: Mingle.
Not sure how? The most common method is to randomly start listening in on whatever conversation is going on... eavesdropping and lurking are socially acceptable (and essential skills) at Green Drinks!
Green Drinkers are welcome to display cards, brochures, info sheets, posters, magazines, newsletters etc on the table... just remember to take whatever is left on the table away with you when you leave.
QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS and COMMENTS:
These are always welcome. Please email one of the organisers. Join our Facebook Group... start and participate in discussions there.
Contact: stevemccoy1@mac.com for more details