[ACTION in Development] – Write A Food Policy Paper (For Berlin)

ACTIVITIES Policy
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#30

AG Stadtplanung of the ‘Ernährungsrat’ (workgroup for city planning of the Food Coucil Berlin) has not managed to meet again before the general assembly that will take place on monday. This means that I wasn’t able to convince anyone to pick up the subject, so it won’t be put on the agenda and discussed in the general assembly- which means that the main Berlin network that has the explicit pupose of writng such a policy paper is not behind the project. Going on without them would look like I’m trying to establish parallel strucutres, which is the last thing I want to do. Not a good starting point.

Lesson: PATIENCE is a very necessary ingredient. Don’t race ahead before you have ensured support by the most important stakeholders.

Two days and some mails later: we might still get to talk to the AG of the Ernährungsrat after all.

Lesson: don’t give up before it’s over!

#32

Had a very good discussion with a smaller part of the AG Stadtpalnung (working group city planning) of the Ernährungsrat (food coucil) Berlin.

Results:

  • there will be a very short report to the general assembly about the discussion, so the ACTION will find it’s way into the network after all
  • it has to be emphasized that this ACTION is in NO WAY prescriptive or trying to take over the process that is going on in this council right now, which is to discuss in real life meetings a general vision, strategy and food for Berlin - being exactly what this ACTION is trying to do. Instead this process here is to be seen as a supplement, an experiment that can help to further and deepen the ongoing debate by giving the community another tool for documenting the research and the many perspectives, visions and needs within the network
  • the main interest for the AG was to extend the reach of the debate in order to include stakeholders that have not been yet active in the Ernährungsrat
  • it was criticized that the pictogram, the introduction and documentation are all in English. As until 1989 eastern Germans did mostly rather learn Russian than English at school this is a very relevant consideration. On top of this the online format and the fact that one needs to sign up to the forum and find out how it works is another obstacle. I have therefore 1. begun to translate the most important parts to have the page start in German, and will 2. mostly spread the link to the pad which is bi-lingual already and can also be used by less internet-savvy people. Nevertheless some people will most likely not contribute in this format (i.e. some alloment associations…)
  • the event in Baumhaus was also met sceptically: why should we have another meeting of this type if we are meeting for the same purpose in our own (much slower) process already. It will only be convincing if we manage to involve new stakeholders such as building societies.
  • as so often the concept of an Open Source process is alien and thus challenging for people in this subculture of environmentalism (food, gardening, composting). Why would you want to show what you’re doing to an international community? Isn’t that taking it a bit too far, overly extending the community which is debating things? How would we benefit from opening up like this? How does this method work anyways? Isn’t it terribly complicated?
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#33

Last night I tried to pitch this ACTION at two events, both times I only got a chance at the very end when hardly anyone was paying attention and people had no energy left to give feedback. I’m not sure they got what this is about, but there were definitely more questions than enthusiasm.

General Assembly of the Food Council Berlin

  • Why do an event on food policy if we are doing this already? in our own, non-open and rather slow traditional way: working groups dicuss in maybe monthly meetings and then report back to the general assembly every 3 months, where with about 50-70 participants no real discussion is possible to link the work of the groups together…
  • Why document it?
  • Why should we connect to an international audience?

Foodsharing regional meeting

  • Why do something parallel to the Ernährungsrat?
  • Why do it within this Festival?
  • What do you expect us to do?

In general I think that the online collaborative format is very alien to the people I spoke to, no-one seems to see a benefit in Open Source in connection to their own environmental work (apart from OS software and Wikipedia). There was also no understanding yet in the need to close the cycle (why and how). So while there’s lot’s of good work on education, production and distribution, this aspect also needs an explanation.
There was not enough time and attention to explain the OSCEdays and the current DIF-collaboration AND explain the circular food system policy paper.

#34

Finally posted and sent out a newsletter to the Transition Town communities in Pankow and Berlin-Bandenburg: https://ttpankow.wordpress.com/2016/11/08/circular-food-system/

Also sent out the invite to

  • Ernährungsrat Berlin
  • ‘Restlos Glücklich’ Restaurant
  • Foodsharing community and yunity.org team
  • Agenda 21 Pankow
  • Berlin 21 e.V.
  • VHW (Degewo)
  • LaKuNaBi
  • Berlin.imWandel.net
  • Transition Network Berlin-Brandenburg, Transtion Network D/A/CH, Transition Network international
  • Dycle
  • Baumhaus
  • Stadt macht satt
  • Elisa Pfennig (inviting her to forward to other Green Party members)
  • Mauergarten, Bunter Garten Buchholz, KGA-Verband Weissensee
  • Undune-Filmteam
  • Eva Foos (TU Berlin)
  • Kubus (TU Berlin)
  • Gourmello e.V.
  • EcoToi
  • KanTe
  • Dachgärten für alle
  • Bürgerinitiative Bürgerpark Pankow
  • Stadtmission

Still many more to invite…

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#35

Reactions to our invites:

http://berlin.imwandel.net/ want to do a feature on this @Lars2i , maybe you can get in touch with Luca, I gave him your mail

Comment from Eberswalde (close to Berlin in Brandenburg): bin etwas verwirrt von der Vision: Ist denn das Ziel, dass sich Berlin bis 2030 ernährungstechnisch selbst versorgt (so verstehe ich den ersten Satz)? Oder anders: macht es nicht Sinn weitestgehnde Selbstversorgung zusammen mit Brandenburg anzustreben? Bin etwas verunsichert von der Zielsetzung…

  • I replied: ja, natürlich wäre Brandenburg Teil einer solchen Vision. Wenn das nicht klar wird, sollte es reingeschrieben werden. Für mich war das aus dem 50km Umkreis ersichtlich, aber du kannst es gern verbessern. Und ja, bis 2031 wäre das ein ambitioniertes Ziel, Berlin wieder regional zu versorgen, das sollte uns aber nicht davon abhalten, es so zu schreiben, oder?

Ingo has now contributed to the paper.

LaKuNaBi and Stadt macht satt and Baumhaus have already contributed to the text.

Comment via mail from Berlin-Wedding:
… Meine derzeitigen Ideen kreisen ja eher erstmal um Guerilla-Gärtner-Aktionen, weshalb sie vielleicht nicht so reinpassen in ein “offizielles” Strategiepapier, oder?

My reply:
… Es ist kein ‘offizielles’ sondern ein Transition-Strategiepapier, da ist erstmal alles erlaubt. Für mich stellt sich deshalb nur die Frage: Wie können Guerilla-Gärtner-Aktionen zur zukünftigen nachhaltigen Ernährung der Stadt Berlin in geschlossenen Nahrungs-Nährstoff-Kreisläufen beitragen. Dass sie aktuell nicht immer legal sind, spielt dabei keine Rolle. Dafür ist die 5. Spalte da: was müsste sich politisch ändern, damit dieser Beitrag zur Stadternährung überhaupt und in Zukunft besser und mehr stattfinden kann? …

Answer from VHW:
… Ihr kollaboratives Format ist spannend, ich habe gerade auch einmal in die verlinkten Dokumente geschaut. So wichtig das Thema Ernährung zweifellos ist, steht es doch nicht im Mittelpunkt der Forschungstätigkeiten des vhw. Deshalb können wir uns – schon allein aufgrund mangelnder Expertise – nicht so gut einbringen. Gleichwohl ist es auch für den Verband von großem Interesse, ob und wie gut Kollaborativformate wie das von Ihnen angestoßene funktionieren können…

My reply:
… gerade die großen Wohnungsbauunternehmen, wie sie im VHW zusammengeschlossen sind, können unserer Meinung nach einen wesentlichen Beitrag leisten, nicht nur als Teil einer urbanen Landwirtschaft mit ihren Möglichkeiten für neue Geschäftsfelder, sondern auch bei der Information und Bildung von Mietern und Gärtnern. Dies ist insbesondere in den Berliner Bezirken Pankow, Charlottenburg und Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg relevant, wo aktuell Vorschläge zur ‘Essbaren Stadt’ in den Bezirksämtern geprüft werden.
Für Ihre Teilnahme an unserem Projekt ist weniger eine Expertise im Bereich Ernährung gefragt als Ihre Erfahrung im Wohnungsbau und im Umgang mit den Mietern. Wenn in Ihrem Verband unser experimentelles Format nicht das passende ist, dann ist das für uns ein wichtiges Feedback. Ich würde gerne mit Ihnen darüber sprechen, in welcher anderen Form man evtl. besser ins Gespräch kommen könnte. Sie erreichen mich unter …

We are now invited to a VHW-networking event on the 2.12.2016

Mail from Umweltkalender:
… über Ihren Newsletter bin ich auf den Diskussionsabend „Gemeinsam für ein ‚Circular Food System‘ – Nahrung-Nährstoff-Kreislaufsystem in Berlin“ am 26.11. aufmerksam geworden. Da die Veranstaltung wunderbar in unseren Umweltkalender passt, habe ich sie als Redaktionstipp eingetragen: www.umweltkalender-berlin.de/angebote/details/49142. Ich hoffe, Sie sind mit der Darstellung einverstanden.

Der Umweltkalender Berlin ist ein Projekt der Stiftung Naturschutz Berlin. Die Online-Informationsplattform dient der Steigerung der Bekanntheit und Nachfrage des vielfältig verfügbaren Berliner Veranstaltungsprogramms im Bereich Natur und Umwelt.

Ich möchte Sie herzlich dazu einladen, künftige Veranstaltungen mit Umwelt-, Natur- oder Nachhaltigkeitsbezug selbst in unseren Umweltkalender einzutragen.
Unter folgenden Link können Sie sich kostenlos als Anbieter registrieren:
www.umweltkalender-berlin.de/anbieterbereich

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#36

got a link posted here: FAQ – Open Labs: The Circular City – Running November 2016

Sainsbury’s offers food rescue recipies (of course the aim is to sell you the other ingredients and it’s greenwashing… but it does raise awareness with people who might otherwise not think about it):

#37

I will pitch the Circular Food System-ACTION during the IPU-Kongress (Initiative Psychology in Environmental Protection); they meet every 6 months from all over Germany; topic this time: “From smalll steps to great visions: Creating future livable Cities with psychology” where I’m invited to give a workshop on urban gardening on Friday the 18th. Looking forward to their reactions.

P.s. result: There was some interest but the Open Source method is not really known in psychologist circles, though many knew Cradle to Cradle (not all). I did get one of the other speakers interested in the platform though.

I plan to Open Source the creative workshop format as I found it has a lot of potential.

#38

Another related event to attend in Berlin:

abendsalon_as8-nachderwahl-800x400.jpg800×400 56.7 KB

http://www.hermann-henselmann-stiftung.de/Archive/941

#39

Today we start PHASE 2 of the DIF: create an ACTION Protocol.

This means that we take all the experiences we made during the preparation of the DIF and the feedback we got during PHASE 1 (brainstorming) and condense them into the ACTION Protocol format.

As the ACTION Protocol is meant ot be for any city and not only for Berlin we have moved this to [ACTION in Development] - Write A Circular City Food Policy Paper where we created a sandpit document for all to try out their writing skills. Join in and help us!

#40

Yet another related event I found in my inbox today:

Einladung zur Info-Veranstaltung über die Landschaftsbaumaßnahmen im Grünen Band Berlin. Es werden die Maßnahmen im Bereich des ehemaligen Mauerstreifens zwischen Klemkestraße und S-Bhf. Wilhelmsruh und vom Wilhelmsruher Damm bis Friedhof Rosenthal vorgestellt.

Datum: 29.11.2016
Zeit: 18:00 bis 19:00 Uhr
Ort: Rathaus Pankow, Großer Ratssaal
Breite Straße 24 A – 26, 13187 Berlin

Ich würde mich freuen, wenn Sie diese Information an interessierte Kreise weitereiten könnten. (meaning it’s open for anyone interested, please share the date).

#41

started to reach out to the DIF community by searching, watching and commenting on existing related topics there such as

All related streams seem to be here: https://www.thinkdif.co/schedule/topics#food-farming, but I haven’t had a chance to check them out…

On tomorrow:

Everyone: Please add here what you find on the DIF platform and don’t hesitate to post your own cross-pollinating posts there.

#42

Sent out a reminder-invitation for the Berlin event on Saturday and posted it on the TT Pankow-Blog and facebook:

ThemenabendErnährung.jpg994×695 237 KB

Did sent this invite out to (almost) all of the groups/ projects and organizations/ companies I mentioned in the thread. Only a few people I know personally did respond.

On facebook it was re-posted a few times.

#43

Next event for the list (sadly you can’t be everywhere at once):

BiwAK-Seminar: Der Stadtentwicklungsausschuss - Eine themenorientierte Einführung in die Ausschussarbeit am 26.11.2016

Der Stadtentwicklungsausschuss: Eine themenorientierte Einführung in die Ausschussarbeit

Kommunalpolitisches Seminar
Samstag, den 26. November 2016 11:00 – 16:00 Uhr
Rathaus Tiergarten, Saal der Bezirksverordnetenversammlung, Mathilde-Jacob-Platz 1, 10551 Berlin

Aufgabe der Stadtentwicklung ist die städtebauliche Planung und Entwicklung der Stadt bzw. der Quartiere mit ihren räumlichen und sozialen Strukturen. Sie schafft damit die planungsrechtlichen Voraussetzungen für die bauliche Entwicklung der Stadt und die Fortentwicklung der städtischen Infrastruktur.

Wir möchten Ihnen einen Einblick geben in die Arbeit des Stadtentwicklungsamtes sowie in die Aufgaben des begleitenden Ausschusses. Dabei werden die gesetzlichen Grundlagen und planerischen Instrumente vorgestellt. Einzelne Fallbeispiele sollen Ihnen einen anschaulichen Einstieg möglich machen.

Mit:

  • Jochen Biedermann, in der VII. Wahlperiode Vorsitzender des Stadtentwicklungsausschusses in Neukölln, jetzt Bezirksstadtrat für Stadtentwicklung, Soziales und Bürgerdienste (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
  • Nadine Fehlert, Jahn, Mack & Partner architektur und stadtplanung
  • Nicole Kirschbaum, Jahn, Mack & Partner architektur und stadtplanung
  • Hans Panhoff, Bezirksstadtrat für Planen, Bauen und Umwelt in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
  • Ulrike Zeidler, Leiterin des Stadtentwicklungsamtes in Treptow-Köpenick
  • Moderation: Cornelius Bechtler, BiwAK e.V.

Teilnahmegebühr: 15,- € (Mitglieder und ermäßigt 10,- €). Wir bitten um die Überweisung des Teilnahmebeitrags. Eine Anmeldung ist erforderlich.

Bildungswerk für Alternative Kommunalpolitik (BiwAK) e.V. Sebastianstraße 21, 10179 Berlin.

Wenn Sie Informationen über Veranstaltungen von BiwAK e.V. nicht mehr erhalten wollen, schicken Sie uns bitte eine E-Mail an info@biwak-ev.de.

#44

The event was small, maybe a lack of advertizing, maybe it was not well formulated what it is about. Maike and Lars will discuss this with Frans this week.

A documentation of the evening and the results of the discussion at the tables will follow soon.

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#45

Follow-up:

even though the ACTION Protocol development was not completed, the process has had several positive outcomes for local activities:

  • we have tested two new workshop formats at the IPU-conference and in the Baumhaus that both worked quite well, they have potential and will be documented as soon as we get round to it
  • we now have a fairly comprehensive overview of ‘edible cities’ in Germany (ca. 130) and will soon also have a more detailed ethercalc on who does what and how they can be contacted
  • we have created an extensive list of potential cooperation partners that we can extend and use in the future process
  • we have established good contact with the Food Council Berlin and will have further discussion on how to integrate this work here into their process (e.g. maybe taking the format of the pad and ethercalc we created)
  • we have made some interesting new contacts through the OSCE-platform
  • we have made good contact to a big local public housing corporation in Berlin and will discuss with them on urban gradening/ urban farming and other food projects after Christmas
  • we are considering to found a co-ordination and consulting business for housing corporations/ housing associations/ clinics and other private urban spaces that could be used for urban farming.
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CHAT _ For Quick BoST & OSCEdays Association Questions
#46

Finally some documentation of our debate during the Baumhaus event:

General:

  • The location was great, nice atmosphere and some snacks and drinks to make it an event people want to stay at.
  • Prepration was very little work (ca. 15 Minutes) and cheap (5 Euros in materials +four existing tables and chairs) which makes it easy to run this format.
  • As the format is very flexible one doesn’t need to know how many people will show up, anything between 5 and 50 can be accomodated for a productive meeting.
  • We had printed out the preliminary work to show the process that this was supposed to be the final event to. This we could have skipped as noone will stand to read 16 pages stuck to the wall.

Format:

  • We had set up two tables with two topics each (with questions already written down on them) for people to sit at and chat about them in an open but slightly pre-structured discussion. As there were not that many people the one group talked about all four topics. It always works well to have paper on the table for documentation and doodling.
  • There was also space for an ‘open greeting zone’ and scrap paper for people to exchange notes and adresses. Had there been more participants this may have worked well, this way we couldn’t test how people would behave. Experience from the Baumhaus shows though, that it works well to have a zone where it is an accepted and desired social behaviour to approach anyone, introduce yourself and ask them what they’re doing and why they came.

Discussion:

Production.jpg1274×1280 429 KB

Production:
How do we grow things? Where do we grow things? Where do we start in 1, 5, 10, 15 years?

  • Can Apps optimize the production?
  • Urban gardening business? Which legal difficulties do we face to establish them? How can we create trust in them?
  • reduce waste/ eat consciously/ eat sustainably with children/ integrate this into a busy life (time, strength)/ retain quality of life/ in the city/ manage the logistic of daily ways/ cars are more flexible on long distances and when transporting bulky items/ dealing with cosumption habits (and the tastes of children) -> new website- find it or set it up / learn what it possible -> make alternatives accessible -> cooking circle or cooking coop; bulk buying club for sustainable food (belongs to ‘distribution’)
  • organize bio-dynamic agriculture - in a private garden in the countryside -> in old age there is not enough energy for working the land/ it’s not financially viable for one person
  • Domäne Dahlem -> museum for the history of food safety -> which laws do we need to keep and which are in the way of more sustainable production?

Distribution.jpg1251×1280 423 KB

Distribution:
How do we distribute food (fairly)? Where do we distribute food? What can we do in 1,5,10, 15 years?

  • Urban local gardening reduces the need for packaging
  • What happens in the old soil in my patch when I replace it with new soil?
  • Should we get everything (or at elast more) deliverd? -> intelligent distribution
  • Pupil’s transport-bike food delivery cooperative (it’s a program at German secondary schools to combat truancy and resistance to schooling by replacing conventional classes with working in a non-profit pupil’s business)-> benefits: profits could be donated/ pupils get fitter/ less emmissions/ social interaction between pupils-pensioners, handicapped, single parents (or who else is unable to shop for themselves)
  • Bulk shopping: people pay less by ordering larger amounts and sharing them
  • Could be: Step 1: create a collection of problem stories of activists/ set up a website with an invitation to send your probem stories/ We are collecting stories about … to inspire political change -> share your story // ->Introduction: regulations often prevent sustainability. But sometimes they are outdated and just stop sustainable change. We are collecting stories where this happens to use this collection for political change. are you an activist? Please send your story.
  • It could be a good website using wordpress, maybe a subpage on Transition Town Berlin (or rather Pankow): stories.ttpankow.de (or rather: ttpankow/wordpress.com/stories but it doesn’t exist yet)

Recycling.jpg1280×882 319 KB

Recycling
How can we recycle ALL nutrients (not just food waste)? Where do we recycle the nutrients? How can we start in 1,5,10,15?

Cooperate better with the BSR (public Berlin waste management company)?
Problem: Düngemittelgesetz (regulations banning human excrements as fertilizer)

There was one girl who is currently working with her team to develop a worm composting box furniture piece (making it a nice thing to have in you household, like a bench to sit on). Sadly she had to leave early so we couldn’t get more comments on the nutrient recycling part.

Also look at the circular sanitation Challenge for other work on the subject here in the froum: http://community.oscedays.org/t/challenge-circular-sanitation

Education.jpg1280×992 288 KB

Education/ Information:
What do we need to teach and learn? Who do we need to teach and learn from? Where do we teach and learn? How do we start in 1,5,10,15 years?

  • Walt-Disney-method: meditative/ imaginative journey in which different characters play different parts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_method
  • Dragon dreaming/ future scenario or other dream workshop format (in the Mauergarten community garden, mauergarten.net) -> which options do we have for the future? We need to dare to look further ahead.
  • Pioneers do projects: how do we find thos-> who show that a different approach is possible? Use networks. -> hub for information -> using media actively/ low threshold (barrier free) for any kind of user. Collect and publicize blogs on sustainable food. Create events for direct exchange.
  • Examples for pioneers: 7-Felder e.V. (association for the support of cultural education porjects in Berlin), associations that offer programs to schools and find public funding for them-> business model? to develop new teachign materials, practical, exciting and interdisciplinary -> teachign kits and work sheets
  • Project weeks at school (common format in German schools: the kids work on the same topic in all school subjects for one week)-> thematic field: sustainability -> for 2017 there will be a reform of the core curriculum for Berlin schools with mulit/interdisciplinary topics, one of them being sustainability.
  • Collect problem stories to stimulate ideas for solutions: ask pioneers: what do you do? what do you want to do in the future? What hinders you to do you work better, realize your dreams and plans for the future and/ or reach your goals? What would need to change to enable you to reach your goals? Which policies need to change to help you in your work?

@Lars2i and @Clemens: you were there, please add and correct.
@Lars2i: you have some pictures from the event itself, please post 1-2 of them here.

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#47

The project is developing some nice after-effects. Not the intended policy paper (yet) but unintended forks:

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#48

hi!
@transitionmica

here is translation in Russian on your project of urban gardening

urban gardening Russian translation.docx (20.3 KB)

You know, my friend also works on a project for urban gardening, permaculture, education and vermicomposting in St.Petersburg. Now they got a territory opened for everyone where they grow vegetables according to permaculture principles. If you may need some information about vermicomposting and permaculture I may ask to make a call with you with translation.

Also I remember there is a good online in coursera called “Municipal Solid waste management in developing countries”. Even the focus of the course is on the developing countries, they look closely at different ways of organic waste treatment and management.

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#49

Hi, thanks for the offer, I may get back to it once I start getting this year’s OSCEdays circular sanitation topic together. Currently I’m busy with giving talks on Microfinance in the Philippines, but I did make some interesting connections to development projects that need integrated toilet-energy solutions. Let’s see what the BoSt says about my ideas on that.

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#50

May be useful
an article about existing apps for food sharing

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