This is a fantastic, funny, inspiring talk given by Mary Clear from Incredible Edible Todmoren, a small town in Yorkshire whose people decided they were worried about climate change, food security in Africa and their children's future.
Mary and her friends, sitting in a kitchen with no money, asked themselves, "What can we do to create a kinder world?" They decided to make their 'community stronger, educate their children in a different way, create jobs and have fun'. They got together their neighbours, local doctors, firemen, teachers, school children, even the police, and have turned their town into an edible landscape where the produce is freely available to anyone who wants it.
These are ordinary people, not rich, or famous or influential, just ordinary... They practise the art of 'propaganda gardening', planting up every available public space in their town, and from their efforts have sprung businesses, social enterprises, school gardens, a permaculture training centre, even 'vegetable tourism'! Their work has envigorated the town's economy and made them famous. Communities throughout the world have taken Todmorden's model and replicated it.
No one gave them permission. When asked what Mary's one word of advice was Mary said: "Just do it! The prisons in England are full. I checked. The prisons in Poland are full too. I checked. Just do it."
Filmed at the 2012 Cohabitat Gathering.
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