National Friends of the Earth are currently developing their food campaigning strategy for the next few years. Last Saturday, FOE held a Real Food Away Day in Birmingham, where local group members met to discuss current issues and the way forward for food campaigning. A member of Redditch Veggies/Redditch FOE was among approx 30 food campaigners that attended from all corners of the UK. Organisers granted us permission to display our unique and visually stunning eco-veggie posters ( see them here ) in conjunction with the excellent `Eating the Earth` booklets produced by the Vegan Society. From the start of the day, it was apparent that meat/dairy production was goi! ng to be a hot topic, despite not being specifically listed on the agenda.

The Real Food team were proposing to campaign for the public to consume less but better meat!! But many in attendance were adamant that this would simply not go far enough. The general feeling was that, at the very least, FOE should create awareness of the environmental impact of producing a range of foods. It was emphasised by many that such a campaign should clearly illustrate how meat/dairy production is infinitely more destructive, and therefore urge people to adopt a more eco-friendly diet. The organisers were noticably surprised by the strength of feeling on the issue.

But one meeting alone isn`t going to be enough to change FOE`s proposed policies! What`s needed is for many more eco-friendly veggie/vegans to join local FOE groups across the UK, in order to take part in these ongoing consultations. Find your local group here but if you don`t have a group near you, why not form one!!

Through our involvement with Redditch FOE, not only have we influenced opinions/decisions at meetings, we have also submitted a detailed written response regarding National FOE`s current lack of action on meat/dairy production, which you can read here http://www.redditchveggies.makessense.co.uk/news/800.html