To mark the conclusion of the 30^th UN Climate Change COP in Brazil, our next coffee morning will look at the food system and its impact, not just on carbon emissions, but on almost every aspect of our lives. We want to understand how it works and what we, as Compass people, can do to resist the almost intolerable pressures.

The discussions around what to do reach across many areas: from the political power of the farm and business lobbies to rapid climate change and other environmental impacts; from startling new technologies to the major equity issues involved; not to speak of the cultural contexts around food including the resistance of some consumers to change. One thing for sure, major changes are coming.

We have three great speakers to help us explore different aspects of the issue.

Stuart Gillespie is an Honorary Associate at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. He has spent his career fighting to transform our dysfunctional food system and has worked with a range of UN agencies, founding several global food and nutrition policy research initiatives. He has numerous publications and his latest book is Food Fight, published by Canongate and described by Henry Dimbleby as articulating “the intricate web of historical economic and political factors that have led us to this point of crisis”. He has many constructive things to say about how we can get out of the crisis.

Ali Ghanimi is Head of Partnerships and Programmes at Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, which led the city’s bid to become the first Gold Sustainable Food City. Ali leads the city’s food strategy work, bringing together communities, businesses and the public sector to tackle systemic issues such as food poverty, diet-related ill health and food waste. She works with food partnerships, academics and campaigners to influence food policy at a local, regional and national level. She also writes on food issues for Sussex Bylines.

Ben Simanowitz is involved with the Plant-based Council campaign which is seeking to get councils across the country to adopt formal commitments to shift catering and food procurement towards plant-based options. The objective is to serve as a model for public institutions and businesses and to help B&H council become carbon neutral by 2030. Ben has started to make links into the council and will report on his progress.

We intend that Stuart sets the international and national context, Ali tells us how the Brighton and Hove Food Strategy is engaging locally while Ben gives us some inspirational project level detail.

We will learn about what Brighton and Hove institutions, including the Council, and us as citizens (and Compass members) can do to take action. As Stuart writes in his book: “We need to amplify and harness the growing social and political will and use it to propel us forward. In the face of a food system controlled by powerful transnationals making mega-profits from unhealthy food, we must insist our governments show vision and leadership. And we must get organised.”