with Myc Riggulsford
Time: Fri 10th, 9:30 am – 11:00 am
Labels: Land and Resources , Workshops and Activities , Energy and Tech , Wellness and Community Action
Location: Permaculture Hub
Starting from the discovery of genetics in Devon this talk and discussion with science and environment journalist Myc Riggulsford, who has over 25 years experience writing, broadcasting and lecturing about GM crops, animals, and foods, will look at some of the science and nature behind genetic modification technology and its implications for organic farming and sustainable living today. With examples from famous anti-GM campaigns and some surprising foods it will show how GM is now embedded in our society. It will look at the nature of land rights and how we are losing our Natural Capital, prompting a discussion about the way we want society to progress in future, how we should place a value on our ecosystem services, and how we are losing them as they increasingly fail, depriving us of clean air, clean water, and healthy soils.
These ideas are currently being talked about at the theoretical level by many governments and countries around the world, especially those that recognise that young people are economically excluded, corralled into cities and have lost contact with and therefore interest in nature. We are all losing our Natural Capital through biodiversity losses, and the ability of the world to sustain us. Off Grid is the right place to discuss this.
www.smallpower.co.uk (this is currently under reconstruction, at present mainly about renewables).
Myc Riggulsford
Myc Riggulsford is an independent science & environment journalist and broadcaster, and smallholder, in North Devon midway between Exmoor and Dartmoor, who has been writing a series of articles, and giving talks, debates, broadcasts, and festival appearances, about the Charter of the Forest during its 800th anniversary last year and this year. In the past Myc has written and broadcast about climate change, renewable energy, animal welfare, and farming issues for BBC Radio Wiltshire Sound, Country Smallholding and other magazines. He hosted Europe’s largest science teaching festival, Science on Stage at CERN and has chaired debates and given talks at science festivals all over Europe, and in India and Mexico. He was a visiting lecturer to PhD students and senior scientists at Manchester, Sheffield and St Andrews universities for over 15 years, and has recently chaired public debates on renewable energy, fracking and nuclear power, and on sustainable housing in North Devon. Myc has practical rural skills experience gained on his 20 acre environmentally friendly run farm, powered by renewables including solar photovoltaic panels, solar hot water panels, and a biomass boiler central heating system fed by sustainable coppice.
