The rising cost of food and energy

None of us can ignore the rising cost of energy and food. But most of us, especially our politicians, seem to prefer to ignore the reasons why.

Oil is running out – we are at or near the peak of global production. Yet demand continues to rise. That’s why oil hit an all-time high of $147 per barrel last week and why most analysts expect it to rise much further. Everything – really everything – you see around you is based on cheap oil.

Our food depends on cheap oil. Fertilisers, pesticides, tractors, combine harvesters, transport, packaging, refrigeration – they all depend on cheap oil. Without cheap oil our food supply is in trouble.

The only solution is for us to cut our dependency on oil. If we don’t, the oil markets will create chaos by driving the price up to astronomic levels. In London we are particularly vulnerable because we produce none of our own food or energy – everything comes from outside. If supply lines break down, we will starve.

I went into active politics because of my concern about climate change. I believe we have less than ten years to cut the carbon out of our society. If we don’t, then global temperatures will soar; hurricanes, flooding, heat waves and drought will become common place; and millions of climate change refugees will overwhelm northern Europe. Our children and their children will live in a world resembling the Mad Max films rather than the reasonably prosperous peace of post-war Europe that we have known.

To that bleak vision I now add the end of cheap oil or peak oil as it’s also known. The end of cheap oil should help to focus minds. We have to stop flying food from the other side of the planet. We have to stop driving huge distances to get to supermarkets or workplaces. We have to stop using fossil fuels to make electricity in huge power stations hundreds of miles away. In short, to prepare for the coming oil shock, which some have described as “The Last Oil Shock”, we need to strengthen local communities and cut the carbon out of them.

Let’s be clear – we have all the policies and technologies we need to make the transition to a low carbon society. It’s only political will that is missing. But political will in a democracy requires the legitimacy of the people. We – the people – have to provide politicians with a mandate to take drastic action. The trouble with climate change is that it’s a non-visible threat.

When the Nazis were on the other side of the English Channel British industry was retooled in a matter of months to produce arms. When the smog of 1950s London started killing people we passed the Clean Air Act. Coal fireplaces were refitted to burn smokeless fuels or were replaced by central heating in a matter of years. Climate change is much worse than either of these two threats because it has the potential to destroy human civilisation utterly. But not in our lifetimes. So we bury our heads in the sand and our politicians do not and cannot take the necessary action.

The twin threats of climate change and the end of cheap oil can be combated. I actually believe that life will be better in a post-oil society. Local communities will be strengthened, we will be more in touch with nature, we will be more self-sufficient, we will have more time to talk to our neighbours, we will be healthier and we will almost certainly be happier. But we can only reach that positive place if we take action now.

In the last few months I have seen inspiring examples of urban food growing all over Europe. In Middlesbrough where more than a thousand residents last year took part in a food growing experiment (see photo above) culminating in a town meal for 6,000 people; in Shoreditch where a scrap of unused land on a housing estate has been turned into mini-allotments (see photo below); and in Paris where rhubarb grows alongside the municipal roses in front of the town hall in the 13^th arrondissement.

I have persuaded our Executive to launch a mass food growing campaign across Camden. Every window sill, every garden, every unused plot of land, every rooftop, every pointless hard surface should be used for growing food. We cannot produce all of our food in Camden but we can produce some and we can reduce our food bills in the process.

Insulation is the best way to reduce energy bills. That’s why I’ve asked Camden Council to insulate all council properties and as many private properties as possible by 2010.

I have spent the last three years trying to persuade the decision-makers at Camden Council to make changes like this. Some things are now starting to happen, but it’s just not enough and it’s happening too slowly. There is no real sense of urgency among our political leaders – neither locally nor nationally. That’s because, even if our politicians understand the twin problems of climate change and the end of cheap oil, they will only act if we – the people – urge them to act.

I will carry on fighting for change before catastrophe in the form of the last oil shock or climate change takes away our ability to act. But I need you all to help me. Unless you – the people - demand action there will be no action. Together we fight or together we fall.