SolarPunk and community larders – doing it locally

Posted on August 23, 2022Comments Off on SolarPunk and community larders – doing it locally

When the pandemic hit two years ago, there was a real push for community food support programmes:

She’s building Los Angeles’ first solar community fridge. Will it help extinguish hunger? “Free-food fridge programs have mushroomed in cities across the U.S., part of a growing movement of COVID-era mutual aid, mostly volunteer-driven efforts that target people’s basic survival needs…” : solarpunk

A lot of these projects have been about pushing many different things – including a healthy society, environmental sustainability, empowerment, a thriving local economy and a fair food system:

Building a Community Food Retail Project – Sidmouth Solarpunk

A tall order perhaps – but, again from the States from two years ago, there is determination:

Community fridges are also anonymous. To obtain food through other means, people often have to provide their name, income, number of people they live with, and other personal information. 
For others facing food insecurity, the fact that community fridges are a form of mutual aid — help given to a community, by the community — simply makes them more appealing than other options. “This is not charity; this is empowerment,” Pam Tietze, who established a community fridge in Brooklyn, told The Cut. “There isn’t a group you have to thank. It’s something the community can own.”

“Community fridges” are helping fight food insecurity

These pages have looked at other community food project ideas – including cooking classes, school programmes and finding local mentors to look at being creative with food:

SolarPunk and food waste – doing it locally – Sidmouth Solarpunk

The idea of a ‘community fridge’ really seems to be catching on though – and again for a variety of reasons.

Here’s the Recycle Devon website – with lots of links to local projects

Community Fridges and Larders are publicly accessible fridge / freezer / ambient spaces that offer food for free to everyone in a local area. They make use of surplus food that would have otherwise gone to waste – mostly from businesses but also from households.

Community Fridges and Larders – Recycle Devon

And here are a couple of local Devon projects launched in the last twelve months:

Community fridge initiative set to cut down on food waste – Exeter City Council News

New community fridge opens in Exmouth, tackling food poverty & preventing waste

Here’s the Ottery Larder – who do other stuff which would otherwise have been thrown away:

By setting up this community project run by volunteers, our aim is to reduce food waste in the town to as close to zero as possible, and make sure that everyone in Ottery St Mary has access to food and does not go hungry.

The Ottery Larder | Ottery St Mary Info

Come to the Ottery Larder and select food from our current stock. For young families we also provide nappies, clothes, toys and other essentials.

Community Fridge | Ottery Larder | England

It’s nearly back to school time. What better moment to try our school uniform railS! We have lots of different stock in and as usual it’s all free to a good home. Bring in last year’s and take home this year’s.

The Ottery Larder – Posts | Facebook

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