Not by design, but three out of the five workplace speakers at our Away Day had a lot to say about the amount of sugar in 100ml of Coca-Cola. 10.6g to be precise! No rounding down or up permitted when we are working on reduction, reformulation and behaviour change. Kawther Hashem of Action on Sugar was keen to share her very accurate knowledge; alongside ex-Coca-Cola Sustainability Exec. (Now Empathy Sustainability), Jake Backus; and Head of Starch Research at LMC, Sara Girardello. Surprisingly these three people have never met, but they certainly had a lot to talk about! Tomaso Ferrando from the law school at the University of Bristol and Mary O’Connor from CABI completed the stellar line up for another fascinating and thought-provoking IFSTAL event hosted by the School of Geography in Oxford.
Jim Woodhill gave us a whistle-stop tour of his experience and expertise in Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships, drawing on frameworks and the 60 excellent tools referenced in his guide http://www.mspguide.org/msp-guide. Teams then worked on scenarios into sustainable fishing plans, improving the diets of UK primary-age children and the creation of a sustainable dairy sector in Ethiopia. Coupled with our ongoing pursuit of self-awareness, using Belbin this time and some fun activities along the way, we began our lunch with our minds buzzing.
Topically on the annual #StopFoodWasteDay, lunch was totally waste-free and provided by the rather special and local Waste2Taste who are able to use surplus food to create fantastic ethical and sustainable meals. Also supported by Oxford FoodBank they are shaking up external catering in the area. All their plates, cups and cutlery are also compostable and any other packaging totally recyclable. Something to aspire to in all our future lunches!
The above-mentioned speakers explained their role in the food system and insights and some advice from their varied career pathways before our trademark rotating round-table discussions before some reflections over a well-deserved beverage of choice!
What is always remarkable about IFSTAL events is that by creating a platform for multidisciplinary and cross-sector discussions, it is amazing how much everyone has in common and the points where networks intersect and collide. In addition, as a living and breathing learning network, everyone who interacts along the way gains new understanding and perspectives from each other, no matter what stage of their career and brings us all even closer together than those well-speculated six degrees of separation.
Blog by Rosina Borrelli, IFSTAL Workplace Liaison Officer
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