Our first Testimonial came when we asked this inspiring educator to be our first 'Legacy of Care' Guest
I full heartedly agree with your concept of inspiring people to change and protect the magic of our environment. Of reminding us to value what is so important of what is quite frankly the real joy of life.I am so excited you are doing this and over the moon to be asked to be the first Legacy of Care guest. My goodness of course we would LOVE that. What a huge compliment. What an exciting project to be part of and it really hits our core values.
Kate Wilson Mulberry Mongoose 12 Oct 2019
Food River Station
Dr Robbie van Hemert
Teaching Young Australians that Food Source Matters
Statistics show people today are three to four generations removed from the farm, and don’t know where their food comes from. As Australia's population grows, so does the need to be able to produce enough food for everyone. Food Security is key.
We are building a movement based on a shared vision to see young Australians educated on the much-needed 'ethic of caring' for food source environments, through a national grassroots education program called Food Bowl Connection.
Photo: Peter Scott
Our inspiring 'educators' are people who have deeply connected with a place, seen its beauty and understood its value, and in response they have set about building a legacy to persuade others to care for it.
So we have asked each educator
How do you persuade people to care?
CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR CONNECTION TO THIS PLACE?
I am passionate about this place. I fell in love with it the first time I drove across it. As a farmer I appreciate its agricultural quality. As an artist I love its beauty. In fact, my growing understanding through the research inspired us as a family to sell our farm, and buy one here right on the eye of the Plains! So the connection grows deeper and deeper!
WHAT DID YOU FIND SO BEAUTIFUL ABOUT THIS PLACE?
The landscape! I am blown away by its sheer size, and just how much food this place produces. Imagine – a vast sea of deep cracking black volcanic soil as far as the eye can see, where the crops are grown, scattered with treed islands where the people and the animals live, underpinned by a stable bedrock full of precious shallow aquifers, and then a line of mountains right around the rim – just like your actual breakfast food bowl! Perfect!
WHAT MAKES YOUR PLACE SO VALUABLE?
I spent 3 years with local farmers, environmental scientists, and the local community to understand what makes this such an amazing food producing resource. I came to understand that this is not only a world-class food source but it is also a masterpiece of nature! In fact, it took Dame Nature some 400 million years to create this rare, perfect Food Bowl! Yet the Government gave permission for 2 coal mines here! One has been put on the back-burner, and the other is Chinese owned, and still a likelihood. The farmers have been determinedly fighting against it for fifteen years!
HOW ARE YOU BUILDING YOUR LEGACY TO GENERATE CARE?
In my PhD research I explored my philosophy that 'connecting with a place is fundamental to caring for it.' I wanted to connect people that matter to places that matter, to ensure care for these places. But the most important thing I learned on that journey of research was that a deliberate single focus is the most effective way to establish this critical connection, I chose the magnificent Liverpool Plains Food Producing Region of NSW just 5 hours NW of Sydney as my single focus. I knew that if I could connect students to this one food source, other Food Sources would benefit through their new-found awareness. So I developed the Food Bowl Connection Education Program to teach students that Food Source Matters, around my research on the Liverpool Plains.
Photo: Sally Alden Photography
City student meets farmer on a recent excursion to the Plains. This is what the program is all about!
We believe that connecting with a place is fundamental to caring for it
Factual information is a large component in appealing to conscience, but the real carrying power to persuade people to care comes through a different element, and on another plane. It comes through feelings, through stirring emotions, through sensitivity.
I choose my projects accordingly...
School is an effective seedbed for forming connections because a process can be implemented over time – a process of progressively building awareness to a point where students begin to feel for a place. I know this process works because the task in my unit asks students to design a logo for the Plains. The thought and creativity that goes into this task becomes a blue print mirroring their depth of connection. Unconsciously, the critical life-long connection to food source has been made, its care and awareness instilled.
I sincerely care about today’s chronic insensitivity in people, and the impact it is having on our world. This program offers an invaluable opportunity to motivate a child’s spirit to care.
Dr Robbie van Hemert