Northmoor Trust

Rachel Carson's 'Another Kind of Silence' - Northmoor Trust 18th Sept

Rachel Carson - mother of the modern environmental movement
It is arguably the greatest work by the woman who many regard as the mother of the modern environmental movement. This remarkable and courageous woman managed to combine scientific rigour, a sober and almost understated tone, and exceptional lyrical beauty in her writing. It is an incredibly rare combination which, in my view at least, makes her writing uniquely persuasive.

On 18th September we are staging a play, “Another kind of Silence”, illustrating her life. I hope you’ll come.

The 1950s and 60s was a time when agriculture was becoming rapidly more intensive. Fields were getting bigger, farms were becoming more mechanised, use of agrochemicals was increasing exponentially and wildlife was on the run over much of the landscape. It was also a time when food was going into freezers and supermarkets and the number of people working the land was plummeting.

Providing food for an expanding population
The driving forces behind these enormous changes were the need to provide an expanding world population with affordable and reliable supply of food, combined with a growing pressure on farmers to become cost effective. In short, very much the same forces that are relevant today. And while pesticides are no longer such a source of concern, we now have an even more serious issue to contend with – the growing carbon footprint of our modern food system.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless in the face of some of the huge environmental problems we face. But this would be to ignore the impact we can have as individuals, and at a local level. An important part of the solution is to invest in the local, small scale food – box schemes selling organically grown vegetables, allotments that grow a multitude of different crops in a small area, community projects that involve lots of people in tending productive land, and farmers markets selling locally grown produce that hasn’t travelled half way across the globe.

At the Northmoor Trust...
This is at the core of our philosophy at the Northmoor Trust. We now have Hereford Cattle as well as sheep grazing the Clumps - you can buy the meat at farmers markets in Wallingford and elsewhere in Oxfordshire. An organic vegetable business has set up next to Hill Farm, delivering boxes locally. Over the next year we are hoping to secure funds for a community orchard and other small scale enterprises. And we are starting to put together plans for another Children’s Food Festival next year, where we will promote the message of healthy eating and local food to a national audience.

Just before her early death in 1964, Rachel Carson warned us of environmental problems that must be solved 'within our lifetime'. Forty years later the challenge we face is as great as ever. But if she were alive today, I hope she would be encouraged to see the resurgence of small-scale, environmentally sensitive food production driven by dedicated local communities.