Meat is back. Of course, it never totally went away. Montrealers still lined up in front of Schwartz’s deli, even in the coldest temperatures, Oprah still indulged on Seattle’s Ezell chicken, and the kitchen still smelled of bacon every Sunday at brunch time. But meat had become a guilty pleasure. By eating it, we were condoning animal cruelty, climate change, food poisoning and chronic health problems exposed and vilified by years of vegetarian activism and investigative journalism. A bunch of smart-ass chefs, butchers and other food-lovers are changing all that by bringing the ethics and pride back to animal foods.
There has been a bit of controversy in the food scene here in Seattle, where I’m writing from. A couple of weeks ago, The Stranger, a local alternative weekly, published a severely critical piece about Bill the Butcher, a beloved local store chain specialized in organic and local meats. The stores aren’t as transparent as they claim, the article argues, and some of the meat isn’t really organic.
Bill, the owner, defends himself. The chain never pretended to be 100% organic, he says, and it doesn’t mean its products don’t meet high standards. “It takes a substantial investment and a period of years to get an organic certification and many local farmers and ranchers just cannot afford to pursue this,” reads an open letter published on the chain’s website.
This is just another episode in the meat saga that is well under way on North America’s West Coast. As the organic and locavore movements grow in popularity, so does the demand for meat coming from animals that have been raised ethically, fed with grass, and slaughtered in decent conditions – all within a reasonable distance. For those who could never bring themselves to vegetarianism, this is salvation. They can eat meat while keeping their conscience intact.
Each day, about 200,000 people around the world move from the country to the city in search of better opportunities. This means two things: the end of the dominance of western metropolises in favour of third-world cities, and the growth of informal and illegal neighbourhoods commonly referred to as slums or squatter cities. This is what tomorrow’s world will be like.
About one billion people currently live in slums around the world. Current estimations predict this number will grow to two billion by 2030. Although slums have traditionnally been negatively portrayed, their role has been instrumental in urban, economic and social development of societies. I’ve chosen to present the three personalities whose work has transformed our vision of the current urbanization movement.
The idealist
Steve Brand is better known as the co-founder of the Long Now Foundation and the Global Business Network. His controversial ideas about environmentalism have been summed up in the book Whole Earth Discipline.
Brand sees contemporary slums as a means to limit population growth and provide opportunities to million of residents in developing countries. His short TED talk sums up why we should care:
Brand sees a huge potential in turning slums into sustainable neighbourhoods. Slums are already “green” because of their high density of population. Urban farms, green roofs, solar panels and mass transit systems could be implanted in order to make these communities self-sufficient.
Journalist Robert Neuwirth has been witnessing life in slums first-hand by spending several years living in various squatter cities around the world. He is the author of the book Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World and of the blog Squatter Cities.
Where some see poverty, Neuwirth sees neighbouroods that can be extremely vibrant, rapidly developing, home to intricate social networks and business opportunities. He notes that some of them are naturally evolving toward better standards of living, to the point where they become similar to any other neighbourhood. Neuwirth sees two conditions to this: the ability of residents to avoid eviction and remain on the land, and access to politics.
“The issue is not urban poverty,” he said as a conclusion to his 2005 TED Talk. “The issue is for us to recognize that these are neighbourhoods, this is a legitimate form of urban development.”
Neuwirth has been critical of the United Nations, whose Settlements Programme, also known as U.N. Habitat, has been ineffective. Its world headquarters are ironically located near Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, one of the poorest slums.
Here is his PopTech! talk, slightly more informational than the TED one:
The theorist
Mike Davis’s Planet of Slums has been written from the comfort of his home. An urban theorist, historian, and political activist, Davis’s work is mostly theoretical and seeks to analyze slums from a global, historical and political perspective.
Davis notes the interest of the American military in studying slums. Modern warfare, having shifted toward urban guerillas, needs to understand the functioning of slums and capitalize on it.
He also underlines the rise of religious movements in slums, notably Pentecostalism and its importance in Latin America and Africa. “The largest self-organized movement of poor urban people in the world” according to Davis, Pentecostalism is responsible for many social behaviours in squatter cities.
According to him, slums have been seeing a rise in political and social movements within their limits. However he doesn’t believe in formal political institutions as a way for slums to access better living conditions, in large part because of corruption.
Davis’s work has often been described as “anti-urban” and “apocalyptic.” He has been rebuked for failing to see the potential of slums as sustainable communities.
This post was long overdue. I first heard about sharing backyards initiatives last year while reporting on the rise of urban agriculture. Since then, these initiatives have flourished and others have been created.
A community garden in St-Louis
Many North American city dwellers have the advantage of having a backyard adjacent to their house, and have been increasingly aware of the potential they have for food production. Gardening can be quite time-consuming though, and many of us aren’t ready to get our hands dirty. The solution: letting another garden-lover come over and take care of it all during the season, and pay him back in food or cash. The remaining produce should cover the expenses.
As usual in the post-internet world, garden owners and would-be workers can find each other online. SharedEarth offers a worldwide matching service listings and an interactive map. Most users are located in the U.S., but its fanbase is already slowly growing. Sharing Backyards, another online platform, is strongly rooted in Canada and the U.S.
Landsharing brings more to its adepts than food only. Through sharing, neighbourhood residents can reconnect and contribute to building vibrant communities. As summed up on BK Farmyards’ website:
The rituals of preparing and eating meals are the foundation of culture: it is how we celebrate the gift of life, and how trust is established in a community. BK Farmyard provides local jobs, local economic growth, and a sense of stewardship and pride in the community: it educates, organizes, and mobilizes new social relations around food.
But it’s not only about vegetables. Calgary resident Eliese Watson runs Apiaries and Bees for Communities, a business through which she tends to bee hives located in several gardens. In exchange, garden owers get their share of honey.
About
Defiant Imagination showcases inspiring ideas and provides analysis on the intersection between culture, modernity and change. Written and curated by Flavie Halais.
Facebook
Join D.I. on Facebook and don't miss a single update.
Twitter
To get all the updates from D.I., plus other daily inspiring links, follow us on Twitter.
