NSL Blog

Incredible Edible: people power creating resilient communities

June 8, 2012

I saw Pam Warhust speak at Thinking Digital in Newcastle a few weeks ago.

Inspirational was an understatement – her story of how a group of people created a movement to get their community to think about a more resilient, sustainable community is one we can and should all learn from. This video tells the peoples story.

I said to Pam that had I been aware of Incredible Edible it would have gone in the No Straight Lines book. So in the next edition Pam!

Principle 4 of No Straight Lines is Participatory Cultures and Tools – which gets into the heart of what makes us special as a humanity – human beings are designed or have evolved to work best in aggregates, collectively – working towards a common purpose and goal. This process is not about efficiency its about effectiveness – Faster alone but further together.

Crafting a new pursuit of happiness: re-ordering work and play: chapter 6 of No Straight Lines also explores this idea that meaning making, how we shape a better world has much to do with human behaviour and motivation – this comes across loud and clear in the film. What is it we do, and why do we do it, why do we commit? – are all part of creating cohesive, resilient societies. The ability to co-create narrative and meaning has been much misunderstood within the context of a consumer centric world. Further reading (Raymond Williams, Erik Eriksson, Charles Taylor, Barbara Ehrenreich, in the Living Bibliography).

You will not find a story about consumer culture in this film, yes there is an economic story but it fits properly within community, and the region. What this film also demonstrates is that resilience is created by thinking about systems, and the interconnectedness of the world around us. Where social cohesion, belonging, education, economies (albeit micro) are all part of the equation.

Incredible Edible Todmorden from haymedia on Vimeo.

Further reading:

• Farming for our future.
• Crafting resilient towns and cities

No Straight Lines store