An evening evening discussion exploring food, land and seed sovereignty, social justice and the future of farming.

Joining us are Dr Vandana Shiva (physicist, anti-globalisation and seed sovereignty activist & author), Brooke Bridges (mental health advocate and founder of Storytelling for Social Emotional Learning), Jyoti Fernandes ( Via Campesina and Land Workers Alliance), Ian Solomon-Kawall (Freedom Teacher Guide & May Project Gardens), Amber Tamm (Farmer and Healer), Josina Calliste (Land In Our Names, LION)

This event is part of the online course, 'A Journey Home,' a 9 month course in personal and collective transformation exploring 9 themes with 52 leaders of systemic change.

For more information see here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/advaya/404363#

About the speakers:

Vandana Shiva:

Globally well-known intellectual and activist, Vandana Shiva has shown ongoing commitment in different fields, making it difficult to label her name under a precise and unique category. At the core of her activism there are: counter-development in favour of people-centered, participatory processes; support to grassroots networks; women rights and ecology. Author of numerous important books and articles, Vandana Shiva has shown a lifetime interest in campaigning against genetic engineering and the negative impact of globalisation, advocating for the crucial importance of preserving and celebrating biodiversity.Josina Calliste
Josina Calliste is co-founder of Land in Our Names (LION), a Black-led, grassroots collective committed to reparative justice in Britain by securing land for BPOC (Black people and People of Colour) communities.

Brooke Bridges:

Brooke Bridges is a mental health advocate and founder of Building Bridges SEL: Storytelling for Social Emotional Learning. Her own journey to mental wellness inspired her wish to help young people become aware of their emotional experiences through storytelling. Before she moved to the Berkshires about three years ago, she was a model and personal chef. In the Berkshires, she’s made and sold bagels at farmers markets and has been working administratively (and doing some planting) at Soul Fire Farm. In the past year, Bridges introduced more than 6,000 kids to open conversations on mental health. She has also returned to school for a degree in developmental psychology and neurobiology.

Jyoti Fernandes
Chair person and Campaigns Coordinator, Via Campesina & Land Worker’s Alliance Jyoti is a campaigns coordinator currently working on a campaign to influence DEFRA to adopt more policies to promote food sovereignty. She works to represent small-scale producers around Europe in the European and Global agricultural institutions.Jyoti is also a Dorset smallholder farmer on a 20 acre low impact holding with Jersey cows, goats, pigs, vegetables and apple juice, cider cheese, and other processed products. She’s a butcher and land rights activist (mostly helping people gain planning permission).

Ian Solomon-Kawall
Ian Soloman-Kawall aka KMT is a Freedom Teacher Guide who uses art [hip-hop] for social awareness and social cohesion. He is Co-Founder of the May Project Gardens which brings communities together to act collectively. Previously he was Project Manager for Pan Intercultural Arts a company using intercultural performance work to help facilitate self-expression and promote a deeper understanding of our changing cultural identities. They work with a diverse range of communities across London and internationally, empowering people to use the arts as a tool for change in their lives.

Josina Calliste:

Josina Calliste is co-founder of Land in Our Names (LION), a Black-led, grassroots collective committed to reparative justice in Britain by securing land for BPOC (Black people and People of Colour) communities.

Amber Tamm
Amber Tamm Canty is a young, black, women who’s life experiences weaves together the interdisciplinary ways of working & healing with earth in full spectrum. The better part of her work experience has been agriculture but in the last 4 years she has come to possess knowledge in cannabis, farm education, permaculture, tropical agriculture, agroforestry, urban farming, floral arrangements and lastly the healing powers of the EarthAs a young girl in Brooklyn, Amber always craved more nature in her life. As she grew up she never could seem to find any opportunities to be in nature and was lost as to how to find ways, as her family had been in the concrete jungle for generations. But 5 years ago, her father murdered her mother, a shocking trauma which changed her whole life. This grief resulted in her spending time in silence. Towards the end of her silence, she finally went outside with the intention of bringing more nature into her life. Her time in silence helped her realize that when she layed her mother’s body in the earth, the earth literally became her mother. This resulted in her bringing home a $1000 worth of plants. These plants became her allies, from them she received clear ways to heal and grow. It was at this very moment that she found her voice, her passion + her future. It was then that she declared that she would not spend her life in an office setting, surrounded by 4 walls but instead immersed in nature as much as possible. It was then she knew Momma Earth would always guide + support her.Amber’s work is to guide communities near and far, especially low income and communities of color, to not just connect with earth but showcase pathways for careers working with the earth. It is her goal to make her peers aware that working with the earth can be a career path not just a hobby and provide healing for personal trauma simultaneously. She shares her life with us as a testament to this statement; Amber’s shares her life with us proving that the earth provides abundance.Amber is currently based in NYC where she works as a horticulturalist, florist, mild landscaper and urban farmer/gardner. When she’s not doing this work you can catch her hosting American Sign Language Tours at The Whitney Museum of Art or babysitting for families all across NYC