Way to go Deb. From the team!

Guy Dauncey speaks with A Channel about Deb Morse from Organic Islands on Vimeo.

During the annual Green Drinks gathering in Victoria on July 14 at Royal Roads University, Guy Dauncey chats with A Channel about Festival Director Deb Morse’s contribution to the green and sustainability movement on Vancouver Island.

Tessa Larsen helps five-year-old Ty Underwood dig soil in the Jr. Masters Garden Program as part of the 5th annual Organic Islands Festival at Glendale Gardens Saturday. Photograph by: Darren Stone, Times Colonist

Reporter Matthew Pearson provides a great summary of the panel discussion with local farmers and food activists offering their solutions to reviving the Vancouver Island Diet. Here is an excerpt.

Metchosin farmer Tom Henry has this advice for Islanders: grow five per cent more food than you did last year and buy five per cent more locally grown food.

Henry’s was just one of many solutions presented Saturday at a panel discussion on the “Vancouver Island Diet,” part of the fifth annual Organic Islands Festival at Glendale Gardens, southwest of Beaver Lake.

The hour-long talk centred on a sobering statistic — more than 90 per cent of the Island’s food supply comes from off-Island. By contrast, in the 1960s, 85 per cent of the food consumed here was actually grown on the Island… read more here – click on blue text to read entire article.

Thai massage practitioner Gillie Easdon works on Wendy Simson in the Japanese Garden Wellness Oasis as part of the 5th annual Organic Islands Festival at Glendale Gardens Saturday. Photograph by: Darren Stone, Times Colonist

Planet Organic Store Manager Chris Allen hides amongst the fresh vegetables Saturday at Organic Fest held at Glendale Gardens.

Reporter Travis Peterson of Black Press reported on how the festival is promoting sustainable change in what we grow and eat. Here is an excerpt:

Glendale Gardens was busy, hot and sustainable on the weekend.

Thousands visited the Saanich horticulture centre for the Organic Islands festival annual celebration for sustainable living.  With 150 stands strewn about the multi-level gardens, organic and/or alternative food samples were plentiful.

But the theme which stood out the most was how to create sustainable change on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, notably the Vancouver Island Diet.

Oak Bay MLA Ida Chong … Read more here –  click here on blue text to read entire article

Wonderful coverage of the festival by Editor John Threlfall at Monday Magazine. He previews the festival in this week’s print and online edition. Here is an excerpt:

“Organic Islands Festival’s Deb Morse harvests hope”

Talk about events that are ahead of the consumer curve. When the Organic Islands Festival and Sustainability Expo was conceived back in 2004, founder Deb Morse thought it was more than just a good idea.  Read more here - click on this blue text for the Monday Magazine Article.

]]> http://organicislands.ca/blog/2009/07/monday-magazine-interviews-deb-morse/feed/ 0 http://organicislands.ca/blog/2009/07/port-alberni-times-article-about-jen-fisher/ http://organicislands.ca/blog/2009/07/port-alberni-times-article-about-jen-fisher/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:41:25 +0000 Debra Morse http://organicislands.ca/blog/?p=386 Read this article about Jen Fisher-Bradley, speaker on main stage at Organic Islands Festival: Local food-security activist Jen Fisher-Bradley has been selected as a feature speaker for the upcoming Organic Island Festival and Sustainability Expo...]]> Read this article about Jen Fisher-Bradley, speaker on main stage at Organic Islands Festival:

Local food-security activist Jen Fisher-Bradley has been selected as a feature speaker for the upcoming Organic Island Festival and Sustainability Expo.

The event takes place on July 4 and 5 at Glendale Gardens, which is located at 505 Quayle Road in Victoria, just north of Camosun College Interurban Campus. Fisher-Bradley, who spearheads the Women’s Food and Water Initiative, will be on a panel with Bill Code (Heritage Island Food Services Co-operative), Tom Henry (Small Farm Canada) and Carolyn Herriot (The Garden Path).

“This is about reviving the Vancouver Island Diet,” Jen said.

She is now widely credited with coining the term, which is a twist on the more-common 100-Mile Diet.

“Carolyn Herriot advocates the Zero-Mile Diet, which is what we’re doing here,” Jen added.

Husband Stephen noted that, back in the 1960s, the Island produced 85% of its own food – down to less than 10%.

“We’ve gone from producing nine month’s worth of food to about three days,” he said.

Read the Entire Article

Joan Delaney of The Epoch Times, the world’s largest independent newspaper, interviewed me and the marketing directors of Level Ground Trading and Nature’s Path Foods (both festival sponsors)  while researching her article on the growth of green business in Canada and quoted us as follows:

Green business is “not just about ‘let’s stop buying this stuff and let’s start buying green stuff’—we want to buy less stuff” — Deb Morse, festival director

“The less people buy the better really. Don’t get me wrong, we’re about generating sales, but not at any cost,”  — Maria Emmer-Aanes, director of marketing and communications for Nature’s Path Organic Foods.

And my favourite quote of all (you’ll see why!):

Level Ground marketing director Rick Stark: “It’s important to support the festival, since a lot of great things go on there. It’s an arena where missions and values and sustainability bring us all together”.

Check out the article:  Going Green the Way of the Future? As environmentalism grows, so grows green business – The Epoch Times.

I was somewhat taken by surprise when Valerie Williams, Green Muze  editor on Saltspring Island, called me an ‘eco rock star’ during the course of our recent interview. Here is an excerpt of the article and interview with link to the Green Muze site which describes itself as “part news agency, part magazine, part advocacy group, and unquestionably idealistic”

Organic Islands Festival
The Green Muze, June 17, 2009

For everyone who has ever doubted the power of one – meet Deb Morse. This Canadian mother took a small idea – to help organic farmers and green entrepreneurs connect with the community, and turned her idea into the largest outdoor green festival in Canada. Held each year on Vancouver Island in ten acres of conservation gardens, the Organic Islands Festival & Sustainability Expo is the hottest eco ticket in Canada… Green Muze