1.2.3 Why we’ve created this course

This course is an attempt to make accessible some key concepts that we wish we’d understood earlier. It’s not a step-by-step guide or a set of rules, but rather an invitation to get more involved, with the food we consume, the soil that creates it, and the planet we all call home.

The centre point of the course is soil, but it is foremost about relationships, invisible ones that matter enormously, personal ones that can expand our own experience, and our relationship with nature, both individually and collectively.

So much in our modern world disconnects us from the natural systems that we are inherently a part of, including the food we eat. Many of us face a daily conflict of living in and being part of structures that directly inflict ongoing harm on our surroundings, and future generations. In this course we look at ways of re-connecting and valuing the complex systems that are well-established and offer a multitude of co-benefits, while also exploring ways in which we can be part of solutions.

Our modern global food systems carry costs beyond the visible price-tag, from conflict and inequity to depletion of planetary resources, unethical production methods and chronic diseases. We need to put good food back on the table, food that’s been produced with compassion, for ourselves, our fellow human and more-than-human beings, and for the future. Food that not only fills our stomachs, but that actually nourishes us.

Finally, we hope that this course can contribute to a collective conversation about change, involving many narratives and embracing complexity and the deep unknown.