Le potager géant, c'est l'avenir

Pour lutter contre sa lente descente aux enfers, une ville d'Angleterre a inventé le jardin collectif. Un triomphe à méditer...

Une poignée de haricots verts devant le commissariat, deux salades ramassées dans des plates-bandes du collège, quelques pommes de terre le long du parking, les oeufs proposés par le voisin et une tarte avec les pommes cueillies sur le trottoir d'en face. Le repas est prêt ! Surréaliste ? Pas tout à fait. Une ancienne ville industrielle du nord de l'Angleterre a transformé en trois ans cette folle utopie en réalité, au point d'être presque autosuffisante en alimentation aujourd'hui ! 


L'expérience de ces "incredible edibles" ou "incroyables comestibles", soutenue par le prince Charles himself, essaime rapidement dans tout le Yorkshire et fait déjà des émules aux quatre coins du monde... Les experts du monde entier, du Chili comme de l'Australie, se bousculent chaque semaine dans la petite ville pour essayer de comprendre et d'en prendre de la graine. Comprendre comment de simples végétaux ont pu induire un tel changement de société en si peu de temps.

On cultive pour la collectivité

L'histoire commence en 2008, à Todmorden, petite ville de 14 000 habitants dans le nord de l'Angleterre. Ancienne ville industrielle, en pleine crise économique avec son lot de chômage, de précarité et d'incivilités, Todmorden se vide inexorablement de ses habitants. Trois mères de famille décident de ne plus se poser en victimes du système, mais plutôt d'agir et de contre-attaquer. En commençant par regagner la première des libertés : celle de se nourrir.

Ainsi sont nés les "incroyables comestibles", ces fruits et légumes cultivés localement par l'ensemble des habitants - ici, chaque citoyen entretient bénévolement un carré de terre pour la collectivité. Cultiver en ville, mais où donc ? Partout où c'est possible ! Des parcelles de jardins aux simples bandes de terre, en passant par des bacs posés sur les trottoirs, les parkings, les cours des écoles et de l'hôpital, jusqu'à la caserne des pompiers, les moindres recoins disponibles se recouvrent soudain de plantations et débordent de généreux produits frais et disponibles. Avec partout la même pancarte : "Food to share" ("nourriture à partager, servez-vous, c'est gratuit").

Un an après, la ville s'est véritablement transformée en verger et potager géant à la disposition de tous. Aujourd'hui, plus de 70 sites de plantation urbains fournissent pommes, fraises, petits pois, cerises, aromates, fenouil, carottes et oignons... Les habitants se servent et participent à leur tour en mettant la main à la bêche, en plantant, en arrosant et en créant de nouvelles cultures. Le pari pour l'autonomie complète est presque gagné puisque, fin 2011, la ville couvrait déjà plus de 80 % de ses besoins en alimentation. Car on trouve aussi des animaux, comme des poules, élevés par les habitants et dans certaines écoles. En intégrant les enfants au coeur du dispositif - chaque école a sa plantation -, les organisateurs ont souhaité les transformer en apprentis jardiniers et les font ainsi participer à l'approvisionnement des cantines.

Une expérience qui a recréé du lien social

Si les experts se bousculent dans cette petite ville, c'est qu'au-delà d'assurer la sécurité alimentaire, le mouvement génère des conséquences vertueuses insoupçonnées. Alors qu'avec la gratuité des fruits et des légumes, on aurait pu craindre des pillages, saccages ou autres abus, c'est tout le contraire qui s'est produit : le tissu social s'est reformé, les relations humaines se sont améliorées et la criminalité diminue d'année en année !

En se réappropriant la nourriture, les gens retrouvent du sens et du lien, se reconnectent à la nature et découvrent un nouvel art de vivre. De la méfiance et du cloisonnement on est passé à l'ouverture et au partage. L'autonomie alimentaire entraîne aussi des changements dans l'économie locale (moins de chômage notamment), l'apprentissage des enfants et la gestion de l'énergie (moins de dépenses pour amener les denrées dans la ville). Éducation, économie et collectivité sont considérées comme les trois piliers interdépendants du programme. C'est en activant ces trois paramètres que l'autonomie est retrouvée. Autrefois désertée, Todmorden accueille aujourd'hui des familles qui reviennent s'installer. À quand la France ? Quelques initiatives commencent à fleurir en Alsace, en Auvergne ou encore dans les Vosges... À suivre.

http://www.lepoint.fr/art-de-vivre/le-potager-geant-c-est-l-avenir-17-06-2012-1474291_4.php

Canada’s Best Places to Live 2012

http://www.moneysense.ca/2012/03/20/canadas-best-places-to-live-2012/

Check out how your community stacks up.

By MoneySense staff | Online only, 20/03/12 

When we speak of Canada’s diversity we refer to the geography of the land and the ethnic background of our people. Yet when you crunch the economic data, as we have for Canada’s Best Places to Live 2012, it becomes clear that how we live defines us as much as where we live. Not only is our urban experience varied depending on whether we live in downtown Montreal or in small-town Saskatchewan, but our ability to access health care or find a job or afford a home is as diverse as our land and our climate.

What is more, the economic factors that determine how we live are always evolving. Thirty years ago, the place to be for jobs would have been southern Ontario. Today, as the manufacturing sector falters, we find good jobs are becoming scarce but social services left behind from good economic times are abundant. Similarly, Alberta and Saskatchewan are being transformed by the boom in oil, gas and other commodities. This puts a strain on urban communities as services try and stay ahead of the feverish growth of resource towns, and housing prices skyrocket—witness the average cost of a home in Fort McMurray (Wood Buffalo) is now a half a million dollars.

This year, for the third year in a row, Ottawa takes top honours with a score of 74 points out of a possible 105. Perhaps most notable however, are the number of Western cities that shot up this year’s list thanks to strong economic growth and low unemployment. Regina and Halifax catapulted up more than 15 spots each to rank 4th and 5th respectively. Similarly, Red Deer, jumped from 96th to 9th on our list.

Take a close look at the data and you’ll find the top-rated cities aren’t perfect or even close to it any category. They are however above average in most categories, resulting in an overall high standard of living.
This year’s list has been expanded from previous years to include 190 cities and towns with populations over 10,000. To compile our list we have taken municipal data and ranked the cities in 22 categories and then given all the cities an overall ranking.

For a full explanation on how we crunched the numbers, check out our methodology.

Also new this year are three additional lists,
Best Places to Retire, Best Places to Raise Kids and Best Places for Jobs.

We’ve highlighted what we think are the most interesting facts and figures to come out of this year’s data in a series of maps, articles, galleries and interactives for you but the possibilities for the curious mind are endless. Don’t let us stop you from diving right in.

What is Happenning in Istanbul?

Link : http://defnesumanblogs.com/2013/06/01/what-is-happenning-in-istanbul/

To my friends who live outside of Turkey:

I am writing to let you know what is going on in Istanbul for the last five days. I personally have to write this because most of the media sources are shut down by the government and the word of mouth and the internet are the only ways left for us to explain ourselves and call for help and support.

Four days ago a group of people most of whom did not belong to any specific organization or ideology got together in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Among them there were many of my friends and students.  Their reason was simple: To prevent and protest the upcoming demolishing of the park for the sake of building yet another shopping mall at very center of the city. There are numerous shopping malls in Istanbul, at least one in every neighborhood! The tearing down of the trees was supposed to begin early Thursday morning. People went to the park with their blankets, books and children. They put their tents down and spent the night under the trees.  Early in the morning when the bulldozers started to pull the hundred-year-old trees out of the ground, they stood up against them to stop the operation.

They did nothing other than standing in front of the machines.

No newspaper, no television channel was there to report the protest. It was a complete media black out.

But the police arrived with water cannon vehicles and pepper spray.  They chased the crowds out of the park.

In the evening the number of protesters multiplied. So did the number of police forces around the park. Meanwhile local government of Istanbul shut down all the ways leading up to Taksim square where the Gezi Park is located. The metro was shut down, ferries were cancelled, roads were blocked.

Yet more and more people made their way up to the center of the city by walking.

They came from all around Istanbul. They came from all different backgrounds, different ideologies, different religions. They all gathered to prevent the demolition of something bigger than the park:

The right to live as honorable citizens of this country.

They gathered and marched. Police chased them with pepper spray and tear gas and drove their tanks over people who offered the police food in return. Two young people were run over by the panzers and were killed. Another young woman, a friend of mine, was hit in the head by one of the incoming tear gas canisters. The police were shooting them straight into the crowd.  After a three hour operation she is still in Intensive Care Unit and in  very critical condition. As I write this we don’t know if she is going to make it. This blog is dedicated to her.

These people are my friends. They are my students, my relatives. They have no «hidden agenda» as the state likes to say. Their agenda is out there. It is very clear. The whole country is being sold to corporations by the government, for the construction of malls, luxury condominiums, freeways, dams and nuclear plants. The government is looking for (and creating when necessary) any excuse to attack Syria against its people’s will.

On top of all that, the government control over its people’s personal lives has become unbearable as of late. The state, under its conservative agenda passed many laws and regulations concerning abortion, cesarean birth, sale and use of alcohol and even the color of lipstick worn by the airline stewardesses.

People who are marching to the center of Istanbul are demanding their right to live freely and receive justice, protection and respect from the State. They demand to be involved in the decision-making processes about the city they live in.

What they have received instead is excessive force and enormous amounts of tear gas shot straight into their faces. Three people lost their eyes.

Yet they still march. Hundred of thousands join them. Couple of more thousand passed the Bosporus Bridge on foot to support the people of Taksim.

No newspaper or TV channel was there to report the events. They were busy with broadcasting news about Miss Turkey and “the strangest cat of the world”.

Police kept chasing people and spraying them with pepper spray to an extent that stray dogs and cats were poisoned and died by it.

Schools, hospitals and even 5 star hotels around Taksim Square opened their doors to the injured. Doctors filled the classrooms and hotel rooms to provide first aid. Some police officers refused to spray innocent people with tear gas and quit their jobs. Around the square they placed jammers to prevent internet connection and 3g networks were blocked. Residents and businesses in the area provided free wireless network for the people on the streets. Restaurants offered food and water for free.

People in Ankara and İzmir gathered on the streets to support the resistance in Istanbul.

Mainstream media kept showing Miss Turkey and “the strangest cat of the world”.

***

I am writing this letter so that you know what is going on in Istanbul. Mass media will not tell you any of this. Not in my country at least. Please post as many as articles as you see on the Internet and spread the word.

As I was posting articles that explained what is happening in Istanbul on my Facebook page last night someone asked me the following question:

«What are you hoping to gain by complaining about our country to foreigners?»

This blog is my answer to her.

By so called «complaining» about my country I am hoping to gain:

Freedom of expression and speech,
Respect for human rights,
Control over the decisions I make concerning my on my body,
The right to legally congregate in any part of the city without being considered a terrorist.

But most of all by spreading the word to you, my friends who live in other parts of the world, I am hoping to get your awareness, support and help!

Please spread the word and share this blog.
Thank you!
For futher info and things you can do for help please see Amnesty International’s Call for Urgent Help