4Mins Read The Global Fashion Exchange(GFX) recently joined forces with art deco boutique chain Walker Hotels in New York City for a “SwapAteria” experience that will take place at the latter’s new TriBeCa location, in order to promote sustainable consumer behaviour. GFX, the international organization encouraging sustainable fashion, partnered with the Council of Fashion Designers of America, […]
4Mins Read Existing titleholder in the middleweight division of professional boxing, Claressa Shields, who recently won again at the junior middleweight division thus becoming the first woman fighter to win an undisputed championship in two weight classes, made use of the occasion to raise awareness about plant-based diets. On March 5 2021, American professional boxer Claressa Shields […]
4Mins Read According to a recent study conducted by researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine, eating high amounts of plant-based food like berries and green leafy vegetables can help slow down heart failure and boost cardiac function and cognitive health. Published in the peer-reviewed British Journal of Nutrition, a new study found that maintaining a plant-based […]
5Mins Read Recently published analysis by financial services provider Credit Suisse shows that China will have several opportunities that will help the country accelerate its local demand and supply of renewable energy sources in order to eventually achieving its net-zero carbon emissions goal by 2060 and end dependency on foreign manufacturing. During the 24th Credit Suisse Asian […]
4Mins Read Home furnishing giant IKEA and clothing begemoth H&M have partnered together on a large-scale test study to help address textile recycling obstacles and are hoping the results will help them make a smooth transition to a circular economy. IKEA and H&M Group have joined forces in an effort to convert their work into circular businesses […]
4Mins Read According to a report by a coalition of NGOs, after the Paris climate deal in 2015, the world’s biggest banks have continued to fund the fossil fuel industry, with a total of US$3.8tn in funding awarded to date. Irrespective of the pandemic and the upward trend in clean energy, a new report highlights the staggering […]
4Mins Read Through Project Pollo, a plant-based chicken fast casual dining chain featuring an entirely vegan menu, entrepreneur and founder Lucas Bradbury aims to make animal-free meat alternatives mainstream by opening 100 shops all across the United States within four years. The catch? He only takes over fast food chain store locations. Kansas-based Bradbury had worked as […]
3Mins Read SGProtein, the Singapore-based contract manufacturing platform, has recently announced that it plans to open a large-scale plant-based meat alternative production facility situated at Commonwealth Capital’s Food Hub that will help boost local sustainable food production in Singapore as well as South-east Asia. Singapore-based contract manufacturing platform for meat analogues, SGProtein is building the first large-scale […]
3Mins Read Eat JUST, the food tech that launched the plant-based egg JUST, recently announced that in just three years of the vegan egg’s launch, the company has sold over 100 million eggs, showing the increasing support and demand of alternative protein among consumers. The news comes shortly after the company raised an eye-raising US$200 million in […]
4Mins Read U.K.-based movement Veganuary’s co-founder Mathew Glover unveiled a new vegan fried chicken brand called VFC. Today, a mere 3 months after its launch, the company is in the news again thanks to a GBP£2.5M (approx. US$3.4M) round of seed funding that will help scale the firm’s production of plant-based chicken. Joining forces with famed chef and restaurateur […]
3Mins Read China’s Community Youth League, a division of the Chinese Communist Party has called out the clothing giant H&M over its recent pledge to avoid sourcing cotton from Xinjiang, where ethnic minorities are allegedly forced to work in detention camps. In August of last year, a coalition of human rights organizations called out the world’s’ largest […]
4Mins Read Ralph Lauren has just unveiled ‘Color on Demand’, what the company describes as the world’s first zero wastewater cotton dyeing system, a process that will recycle and reuse water from the textile dyeing process, in an effort to address the fashion industry’s mass water wastage. Through the Color on Demand system, the U.S.-based leading fashion […]
Atlanta’s seven-acre farm, where anyone can just enter and pick up fruits and vegetables, is fighting hunger and tackling food insecurity.
Estimated to be the largest free food forest in the U.S., the city-owned Food Forest at Browns Mill has been set up with the help of the Conservation Fund that helps convert areas into green spaces.
Previously, this seven-acre farm was a pecan farm that still has mature pecan trees and blackberry brambles, and apart from the fruits and vegetables, the forest also holds around 2,500 edible and medicinal plants for anyone to put it to use.
A USDA’s Food Access Research Atlas showed that 25 percent of people living in Atlanta resided in areas classified as food deserts due to the vast geographical distance between them and grocery shops.
However, with this new forest, the 2,100 residents that live around the area, can visit this place by just taking a 30-minute bus ride.
In an interview with CNN, certified local arborist and expert edible landscaper who assists in managing the forest Michael McCord said: “Access to green space and healthy foods is very important. And that’s a part of our mission.”
Source: Urban Food Forest At Browns Mill
Access to green space and healthy foods is very important. And that’s a part of our mission
Michael McCord, co-manages the forest
The forest was developed using permaculture, and more specifically ‘agroforestry’ practices. According to the Agroforestry Research Trust, an agroforestry system has several benefits from preventing soil erosion, to reducing wastage of water, soil material as well as nutrients thus having a positive impact on the environment. During this process, spaces were created under the trees for crops to grow. Apart from this, bushes that weren’t needed were replaced by crops. To make this possible, the community, corporates as well as non-profits committed over 1,000 volunteers.
Atlanta city councilwoman Carla Smith said that the forest is actually a park for everyone. “Every time I go there’s a community there who respects and appreciates the fresh healthy foods. There’s a mentality there that people know to only take what they need.”
The leftovers are harvested and distributed ensuring that there is zero resulting food waste. To further educate the community about healthy food, gardening and cooking classes are conducted and visitors can make use of garden beds.
Source: Urban Food Forest At Browns Mill
Every time I go there’s a community there who respects and appreciates the fresh healthy foods. There’s a mentality there that people know to only take what they need
Carla Smith, councilwoman of Atlanta city
Going ahead, the plans for the forest include mycelium cultivation for edible mushrooms and an apiary to produce honey.
At the moment, the U.S. has around 70 similar forests in an effort to restore the balance of the broken food chain and provide accessible healthy plant-based food to all citizens that are struggling in food desert areas.
Another estimate by The Food Empowerment Project shows that 750,000 New Yorkers reside in food deserts with hardly any access to a grocery shop, and a further 3 million New York citizens live miles away from shops that sell fresh produce.
Recently, in another part of U.S., food blogger Erick Castro set up ‘Plantega’, a company that installs vegan fridges in Brooklyn bodegas in an effort to provide plant-based options to communities where again there are hardly any healthy food options.
In Las Vegas, a food bank recently opened to offer healthy vegan grocery boxes to those who can’t afford these options or don’t have similar stores near their homes. Through this bank, every two weeks, people in need receive pastas, rice, beans, and much more.
Lead image courtesy of Urban Food Forest At Browns Mill.
3Mins Read Formula 1 legend Lewis Hamilton plans to open seven more London locations of his vegan burger chain, Neat Burger, along with 20 delivery-only outposts to meet a growing demand for convenient and taste plant-based food. London-based Neat Burger was started by world champion race car driver and vegan advocate Lewis Hamilton in partnership with the […]
4Mins Read The results of a a newly released global consumer insights survey suggests that consumers are willing to change their lifestyles with ‘one’s wellbeing’ considered as the top area of interest for consumers in all markets, irrespective of age and demographic. The survey, conducted by global market research firm GlobeScan across 27 markets, shows that people want to take […]
3Mins Read Renowned anthropologist, animal activist and primatologist Jane Goodall recently shared news of The Jane Goodall Institute’s first ever cookbook titled #EatMeatless: Good for Animals, the Earth & All, which offers around 80 plant-based recipes that promise to be both healthy and inspiring. Published by Simon & Schuster and with a foreword by Goodall herself, the […]
3Mins Read The Good Food Institute India (GFI India), a nonprofit organization supporting India’s growing alternative protein ecosystem, recently unveiled the first India Good Food Startup Manual in an effort to scale the country’s innovation ecosystem for the alternative protein sector. Back in 2018, at the inaugural Good Food Conference in the U.S., GFI U.S. launched its […]
3Mins Read According to China’s new five-year plan, the State Council announced that the sales of electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen-powered vehicles in China are predicted to rise to 20% of overall new car sales by 2025 from the present existing 5%. Before we go in-depth about the new plan and what will it mean for NEVs […]
3Mins Read British plant-based meat maker Meatless Farm recently opened a Canadian facility in Calgary in order to debut a new business division that will see the startup produce as well as supply plant-based proteins and ingredients to companies across the globe. According to The Grocer, Meatless Farm recently opened an extensive facility in Canada called Lovingly […]
4Mins Read U.S.-based Michelin-rated celebrity chef, entrepreneur and author Matthew Kenney who specializes in plant-based cuisine, is set to open Veg’d, a fast-food restaurant in Costa Mesa, California with a vegan drive-thru in early May. Founder of Matthew Kenney Cuisine and Matthew Kenney Culinary, a plant-based diet education business, Chef Kenny Kenney has joined forces with entrepreneur […]
3Mins Read In partnership with Danimer Scientific, confectionery giant Mars Wrigley has announced that by early 2021, its world-famous Skittles candy will be sold in biodegradable wrappers. U.S.-based multinational manufacturer of chocolates and sweets Mars Wrigley has joined forces with Danimer Scientific, a developer, and manufacturer of biodegradable materials, for a two-year partnership that will see the […]
4Mins Read Recently, leading electronic brands including Dell Technologies, Google, Microsoft, Vodafone, and global organizations set up the first-ever private sector alliance for circular electronics along with a vision and roadmap committing to a circular economy for electronics by 2030. The global Circular Electronics Partnership (CEP) is the first time business leaders and global organizations have come […]
4Mins Read Entrepreneur duo Roxy Velez and David Heidrich have launched the world’s first vegan-only caterer booking platform in Berlin, Germany, to bring increased visibility and accessibility to plant-based foods. In an effort to help the catering industry recover from the effects of the pandemic, plant-based founders Roxy Velez and David Heidrich, set up Vegcraver, a vegan-only […]
3Mins Read MyCoLearn, an online vegan course network that aims to create a community for vegan professionals, is looking to go ahead with a July 2021 beta launch with backing from U.K. bank NatWest’s ‘Back her Business’ fund, which awards investment to promising women-led businesses. Co-founded by sisters Alice and Lucy Johnson, and hosted by eco-friendly web-hosting […]
3Mins Read Following news that apparel giant H&M is launching a new sustainable concept with its debut collection that includes pieces created using Desserto’s plant-based cactus leather, PETA has awarded the Mexican startup animal-free leather for its innovation. H&M announced its new concept, Innovation Stories, which will launch multiple collections this year, starting with the debut collection Science […]
4Mins Read Singapore food tech Float Foods recently announced that the Temasek Foundation, a non-profit organization under the philanthropic arm of investment company Temasek, has given a project development grant to the former, that has helped commercialize its debut product, OnlyEg, Asia’s first plant-based egg yolk & white alternative. Back in December of last year, Float Foods had […]
4Mins Read A Guardian Seascape analysis of 44 recent studies that consisted of over 9,000 seafood samples from various suppliers in more than 30 countries has revealed that 36% were mislabelled, thus exposing the massive fraud that is occurring on a global scale across the seafood industry. The findings show that the U.K. and Canada had the […]
3Mins Read Hong Kong-based Green Monday just launched its first vegan ice cream series at Green Common, its plant-based café and grocery store concept, and the frozen desserts will also be available at over 500 7-Eleven store, the ‘Go Green Fair’ in SOGO Causeway Bay, and select Green Common stores across the city. Green Common recently launched […]
4Mins Read L’Oréal recently committed to providing its customers’ safe products that are kind to the environment by using a ‘Green Sciences’ approach to ensure that by 2030, 95% of its ingredients will be derived from renewable plant sources, minerals, or circular processes. Relying on ‘Green Sciences’, France-based cosmetic giant L’Oréal will aim to sustainably cultivate ingredients […]
3Mins Read Wood-smoked, plant-based barbecue? U.S. food company Barvecue has announced its plans to open the world’s largest plant-based smokehouse, which will be able to manufacture 800,000 pounds of plant-based barbecue meat annually. Based in North Carolina, U.S., Barvecue plans to open a 10,000 square foot production facility called the Carolina Smokehouse, in July this year. Founded […]
