Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Bipoc-led local farms in unconventional spaces decentralize systems that have produced food deserts and create food equity On a recent Sunday morning in South Los Angeles, Crop Swap LA volunteers and staffers harvested bags of freshly picked produce from the front yard of a residence. Located just steps from Leimert Park Plaza, the Asante microfarm is the first of what will be numerous microfarms created by the organization, which is dedicated to growing hyperlocal food on unused spaces “in the neighborhood, exclusively for the neighborhood”. “Everything we’re growing is nutrient-dense and the food remains in the neighborhood,” says Jamiah Hargins, who founded Crop Swap LA in 2018 as a small monthly swap of surplus produce. After spending years in finance and consulting, Hargins decided to create a local food distribution system to address the fact that his neighborhood was a food desert, meaning most residents have little access to healthy food. It’s now one of many Bipoc-led groups across the US that are reclaiming their agricultural heritage and redefining the local food movement by growing on traditional farms and unconventional spaces such as yards, medians and vacant lots as a way to increase food security and health in their own communities. Continue reading...

Fishery board reports shrinkage in size of River Ness as water scarcity alert issued for parts of Scotland Concern has been raised about the water levels of Loch Ness and the River Ness amid the protracted dry spell affecting Scotland and the rest of the UK. Brian Shaw, the director of Ness District Salmon Fishery Board, said there had been a dramatic shrinkage in the size of the River Ness. He told the BBC: “These conditions are not normally good for angling. Continue reading...

As activist graduates from school, she says she will still protest on Fridays as ‘fight has only just begun’ After what began as a solo protest in Sweden five years ago and grew into a movement with millions of children across the world participating, Greta Thunberg has taken part in her last “school strike” protest as she graduates from school. The protests, which led to many climate activist movements across Europe, the US and Australia, are known as Fridays for Future or School Strike for Climate. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Natural England chair Tony Juniper says government must work quickly to reconcile farming and nature England will not meet its biodiversity targets at current rates, the chair of Natural England has said, as he accused ministers of moving too slowly to regenerate nature. Tony Juniper, who has been in post at the government’s nature quango since 2019, said ministers were not on track to meet species abundance targets, which have been criticised by wildlife charities as “embarrassingly poor”. Continue reading...